Pixies
by SharpieMassacre
Summary: "In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly." Based on the novel Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. -Full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1: Ugly Outsider

**This story is a Winxified version of my all time favourite "teen novel", Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, (anyone who hasn't read it I would very much recommend it, especially if you liked the Hunger Games. They share some similar themes).**

**I do not own Winx Club, and I do not own Uglies. They belong to their respected owners.**

**-Summary: When a teen turns 17 they undergo an operation to turn them into a fairy and make them drop-dead gorgeous. What harm could come from a world separated from the young ugly people, and the beautiful older people? It's time for one girl to realize that her society isn't as "pretty" as it claimed to be.**

_~Pixies~_

Chapter 1: Ugly Outsider

She wasn't supposed to be here for another month. In fact, if she was caught she knew for sure they would...well she didn't know what they would do to her. She left her interface belly ring purposely on her bedside table back at Alfea. This was way worse of a penalty then not wearing her interface ring, skipping classes at Alfea, or sneaking off into the woods for some fun. Sneaking out into Magix however was serious business.

It was common to find her without her interface ring. Everyone had one identical to hers; a silvery ring with a bright red flashing gem in the middle that served as the computers mainframe for the tiny circuitry concealed in the tiny ring. It only served a real purpose if she wanted to communicate with her wall-screen computer back at her dorm, call a hover car to pick her up, make the hover cars on the city grid realize she was standing in front of her and not run her over like road kill, or if she wanted to send messages to any of her friends that hadn't already moved into Magix. However, she had no friends left. So, unless she wanted the wardens to track her exact position, then it was going to stay in her bedside table.

She was sure the wardens would have her head if they found out how she got to the outskirts of Magix anyway. This was actually the farthest she has even gone, even when Stella was still around and when they used to spy on the fairies together for fun. It wasn't like she could pull off the, 'I'm not from around this area so I didn't know I was supposed to be here' move. No, to get here she had to hack into the ID scanner at the gate that blocked the beautiful pretty world from the ugly outskirts and ignore the signs that flashed vibrantly along the fences reading, **"Fairies only," "No Pixies," or "Pretties, not Uglies." **It was painfully obvious; she was an ugly outsider.

She poked her head out of the dense weeds and shrubbery and let the illuminating light from the night lit city shine on her face just barely. She noticed a couple of Enchantix fairies brush their way past joyfully and she ducked back into the shrubs and hid, but kept her eye on them. Seeing them made the magenta haired girl wish to be one of them even more. The Enchantix Fairies were known to all have long flowing hair, and perfectly symmetrical faces with their skinny forms, big eyes, and full lips. Most importantly, they were known to sprout huge wings and use magical powers if an emergency were to come up. Even Tecna knew they only sprouted their wings to show off and only used their powers to playfully attack each other; nothing dangerous ever happened in Magix. The only danger they would be concerned about would be an ugly outsider like herself sneaking around on their territory.

A couple of drunken guys walked past her, completely unaware of her presence. That was the thing about Magix; if you were a girl you became a fairy, and if you were a guy you got bulky muscles and the choice to either wield a sword, or get powers like a mage. The only difference between a mage and the guys in Magix is that they had a better taste in fashion sense. If you didn't, you were a fashion missing air-head. Tecna felt being called an air-head would be much better than being called an ugly pixie.

She gently caressed her cheeks; felt every bump, pimple, and imperfection scattered along it. Then she moved her fingers to the arch of her nose, to feel how wide it was; ugly in society's eyes, even uglier in her eyes. The only thing she hated more about her nose was her frizzy purple hair. It failed to grow more than a couple inches and living in Alfea dorms; there was nowhere to go get it re-dyed a different colour. That was another thing that would make her stand out like a sore thumb if she moved out onto the streets; no girl in Magix would be seen with short, purple vibrant hair like this.

She took a deep breath and looked out onto the streets to look for a diversion; something to give her a few moments to run for her life towards Solaria Mansion. Then out of the corner of her eye; she saw fire. Coming down the street was a parade; a very different parade then Tecna expected. Everyone was marching down beating tribal-warrior drums, shooting safety magic spells from their hands cheerfully, and doing tribal shouts at the crowds. Most importantly to Tecna was what they were wearing; long black robes with hoods and black feathered masks covering their faces. Each of them was carrying a fake light sword if they were a guy and a pair of fake black wings for girls. Tecna could tell by their costumes that they resembled the stupid Dark Days of the Warriors that nearly destroyed the entire world. She could tell this was all a gag to prove how stupid war was back then between cities. Tecna at least appreciated that there hasn't been a war or global conflict since then. She had to admit; the world was a very tranquil place when no one ever argued.

Finally after the parade went through and the street became deserted; Tecna noticed that they were threw the same robes, masks, and wings that they were wearing out into the crowds to join in their cult fun. The costumes now littered the streets. She rushed and grabbed a robe, set of wings, and mask and ran back into the bush to change. The robe magically fitted to her body shape, and so did the mask as it softly caressed her skin and melded to her face. She was already a nobody entering the city, and now Tecna was entering the city as a concealed nobody.

She finally stepped out fully in the blinding light and didn't hesitate but ran as fast as she could in the direction the parade went. She was on a mission; and that was to see her best friend again. The only message Stella managed to send her after her operation was that she was moved into Solaria Mansion on the far side of town along the river that encircled the entire city of Magix She wasn't sure why she didn't just take the river and went that way; but there was no turning back now. It was going to be a dangerous journey; she was already getting strange looks from passing Pretties, and some even managed to laugh at her odd apparel. She kept pushing herself past the stares and glances and just kept Stella in her mind. She had to know if she was okay.

Tecna could remember just how Stella looked all her life; a pudgy girl with less-than-stellar dirty blonde hair with a millions upon millions of split ends. The two of them always joked about how she made the uniforms they wore at Alfea look twice as worse because she was wearing it. She wished she could get one more day with Stella being the two ugly pixies they used to be. Tecna could just remember how they snuck out to spy on the fairies; laugh at how stupid they talked and how ridiculous some of them dressed.

"Look at that one Frizzy," she imagined Stella talking to her in her head as she spotted a guy with an aqua blue Mohawk and a black leather jacket. She couldn't hold in her laugher as she imagined Stella calling her by her "ugly nickname". That was the thing about living at Alfea dorms; name-calling was typical and was widely accepted to do. It made everyone feel better about the way they looked.

"Thanks Pudge," she pretended that Stella was still with her. She chuckled at her ugly nickname for her, but she knew she wouldn't be able to call her it again. She knew Stella was going to be absolutely gorgeous and above all, skinny.

She could see the mansion coming up ahead of her, with its tall spires reaching towards the sky, and carefully crafted stone to create the building's exterior. On top of that, the exterior was lit up by fake flame torches to give it more of a mysterious feel. Everyone entering the mansion was dressed in formal black or white dresses and suits, "Great...I'm going to stick out," she mumbled to herself as she climbed the steps heading up to the mansion. The outside party crowd paid no attention to her; she was camouflaged by the pitch black night sky and the dim lights. She watched as a group of partiers were screaming and hollering from the top of the roof. She focused on one girl who was standing too close to the edge. Suddenly, she her foot slipped and her silhouette fell off the building.

Tecna gasped and watched her scream hysterically as she plummeted to the ground, but suddenly jolted straight back up into the air, and back down again, "Bungee jackets..." Tecna huffed under her breath as she felt fooled; thinking a pretty girl like that would ever be in any real danger. She couldn't help but wonder why they would need bungee jackets in a world where they had a pair of wings to fly them to the ground. But she guessed it was only a safety precaution; just like they were a safety precaution in her dorm in case of accidental fire. She shook off the thought of a poor fairy too stupid enough to remember she could fly herself to safety and burning to death in the mansion.

She was going to make a mental note of that when she got the operation: Never burn to death in a building when you have a set of wings. She would never be that stupid when she turned.

Finally she managed to bring herself cautiously through the doors of Solaria Mansion. It was overcrowded with people all dressed in fancy gowns and suits. Everything about this party spelt out "white-tie". Well, this was going to make finding Stella that much harder. She didn't know where to start searching; the mansion was at least 7 stories high, and that wasn't counting the balconies and gardens. Maybe she should start searching outside.

Tecna pushed her way through the drunken fairies as they hollered behind her laughing and saying things like, "You have the wrong party! This is white-tie only!" or "Look how ridiculous she's dressed!" She ignored their comments and rushed up a few flights of stairs to get away from them. She didn't want to risk having her cover blown; it'd be an absolute disaster. Unfortunately the determined fairies began following her up the stairs. She could hear their heels clinking on the marble steps and yelling, "Come back here and show yourself!" Nope, there was no way that was going to happen.

Her running shoes were much more helpful than she ever dreamed and she was able to leap up the flights of stairs 2-3 steps at a time. Unlike the poor girls who tried to give her chase, kept tripping over their gowns and heels. She could tell by the way their voices became fainter and fainter that they were exhausted. Tecna wondered if they even remembered that they had a pair of majestic wings at their disposal. She couldn't believe how illogical some people could be. She knew she would never wind up like that.

Finally she managed to run up 4 flights of stairs and stumbled into a seemingly empty hallway. Everything about the hall gleamed magnificence and pure elegance. Along one side of the hall lined closed doors, and the other side lined a huge window that overlooked Magix. The floors gleamed dazzling silver and the walls were lined with the same material. Tecna knew if she had her interface ring then she could communicate with the mansion and it would tell her exactly where to locate Stella. Of course her ring would also tell the wardens that she was in her forbidden zone. So, she was going to have to search the old fashion way.

She began slowly making her way down the hall and finally out of the vast emptiness of the hall; she heard the annoying fairies that gave her slight chase earlier almost near the top of the stairs, "I think she's up here!" One of them managed to shout at the others.

"Crap," Tecna sighed under her breath and dashed into the closest door to where she was standing. Thankfully it was already unlocked and she crashed right into the room. She slammed the door so quickly behind her that her hood managed to fall off of head, leaving her exposed. She sighed happily as she finally felt safe. She fell to the ground and clenched her knees to her chest, she felt tears rolling down her face, "It was a mistake to come here."

"Frizzy...Is that you?" she heard a figure stood over her as she sat there. It was painfully obvious who she just stumbled upon because only she would ever call her that. She finally looked up from her sitting position to find Stella looking down at her; as beautiful and skinny as ever.

**It feels so good to finally write out my favourite book of all time with the characters from Winx Club. Of course, in the real novel Uglies, I would like to point out the character Stella portrays is originally a guy, and there are actually no fairies or magic in Scott's novel. A Winx Club fanfiction isn't the same without the magic though, and I felt it made the story more of my own and not a direct copy of Scott's novel.**


	2. Chapter 2: In Case of Fire

Chapter 2: In Case of Fire

Tecna looked up through her feathered mask; she could hardly recognize her once pudgy best friend. She had an extremely slender figure with blonde hair like sunshine that was flowing down the back of her short white dress. Stella had a pair of fuller lips, a slender nose, and bolder eyes. Tecna couldn't help but notice the breast implants that every girl eventually got. Seeing Stella like this proved the operation would honestly work on anyone. Tecna pulled off her mask and black robe and let them fall to the ground as she stood up from her depressing state on the floor, "Was the hair that recognizable?"

"That and your odd get-up...How did you even get here?" Stella bit her beautifully full lower lip as she looked at Tecna, "Only a pixie would be caught here wearing _that_." As Tecna stood there, she felt Stella was looking at her as if she was an ugly pixie. It made Tecna sick to see Stella looking at her like this. This wasn't how she imagined her visit with Stella; even if it was by surprise.

Tecna took a deep breath and sighed, "A parade of people dressed from the Dark Days...I had to take advantage of the free costumes to make my way all the way here to find you," Tecna felt the tears fill up in her eyes, "I wanted to know you were okay. Why didn't you visit me? Or even message me again at the least..." Tecna knew that she wasn't allowed in Magix, but Stella and every other fairy out there were welcomed to visit Alfea and the outskirts of their once home anytime. For some reason, they never did. Tecna assumed they were either too ashamed to remember who they once were, or honestly didn't care about revisiting old friends. Did Stella really think she was way better than her?

"It felt so ridiculous to...I'm different now, you're different now."

Tecna stared at her friend perplexed, "But we were...best friends." It was true, Stella was her absolute best friend, and the only one she felt truly connected with. The way they made fake holograms of their pretty selves and snuck out almost every night...She never wanted to do these activities with anyone else, except Stella. Now she couldn't even have that anymore. She watched Stella drag her to a blank wall and Stella say the word, **Mirror, **and a full wall sized mirror grew and spanned the length of the wall.

"Look at us Tecna," she had the two of them stand side by side to face the mirror, "I shouldn't even be talking to you right now. If any of the fairies found out...I would never live it down." Tecna couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could Stella just turn on her like that? They could have almost been defined as sister, but it seemed like they were complete strangers now. Stella continued to talk to Tecna, "In a month...when you're a fairy...then we'll go back to being best friends."

"And things will go back to being how it once was?" Tecna didn't know how she should have responded to Stella. It was so odd to hear that she only wants to be friends again once she turned into a gorgeous fairy, but she guessed that's how important it was nowadays to be drop-dead gorgeous.

"Yes...In a month," Stella led Tecna towards the door, "But you need to promise me something," she paused, "Please don't do something to get the wardens involved. I don't want them to revoke the operation due to some 'trick' you're pulling. Like tonight, don't sneak back into Magix...or anything else that would cause them to deny you from being an Enchantix fairy."

"I promise I will become a fairy in one month," Tecna gave her a grim smile. She then sighed and turned to pick up her costume, but suddenly her eyes widened when she realized it turned to a pile of dust, "I keep forgetting how disposable items are in Magix." She huffed under her breath, "Nanos."

That was how technology advanced the world had become. Everything was made out of tiny computers called nanos that could be formed into almost anything by using a 'Hole in the Wall' that only fairies owned. Tell it what you want and it will appear in a fraction of a second. Only a few things like weapons, bungee jackets, and other odd equipment were only available by ordering them, and even then they were almost denied to get them. Unlike her uniforms they were permitted to always wear at Alfea; her Dark Days costume was made of nanos. Anything dropped on the floor made of nanos were broken down and turned to dust; to keep the city clean. Any fairy could always get another one. She however, couldn't.

"Stella...what do I do?" Tecna watched the pile of dust that was her costume; disappear, "I can't get caught." Tecna tried her hardest to keep calm in this drastic situation.

Stella poked her head outside of the closed door to find the hallway deserted, "Go to the rooftop," she turned to startled Tecna who was as confused as ever, "Stay in the shadows while up there and find a bungee jacket."

Tecna froze, "You have to be kidding me Stella...Isn't there an easier way?" Things were always perfectly safe in Magix, but she couldn't help but feel worried that the bungee jacket wouldn't detect her without her interface ring. Would she live to be a fairy?

Stella ushered Tecna out into the hall, "Just go, you'll love it. It's like flying." She continued leading her towards the staircase that would lead her to the roof. They both could hear people coming up the stairs from the floor below them, "You have to run Frizzy." Stella was frantically shoving her forward. Tecna wasn't sure of Stella was more concerned on her getting home unnoticed, or the fact that she doesn't want to be spotted with an ugly pixie like herself.

"But...I..." Tecna stuttered.

"Just go!" Stella angrily told her. Tecna finally booked it towards the rooftop and left her so called 'best friend' behind. Her heart raced as she leapt up the final staircase and reached the nearly pitch dark rooftop. She sighed with relief and casually walked over to the closest bungee jacket to her current spot. She did spot a lot of fairies up on the roof using light spells in a wide arrange of colours. They all seemed to enjoy playing with harmless coloured balls of magic, Tecna couldn't see why.

Finally she reached the end of the building rooftop. A strong cold breeze sent her hair blowing hysterically and forced Tecna to stumble a few steps back. She approached the edge again and grabbed a bungee jacket lying precariously near the edge. She picked up the jacket and felt the tough material, "Seems safe," Tecna gulped. She slid it over her torso and looked at the blinking red light that stayed on even after the jacket was adjusted to her body, "Not safe." She waited for the light to turn green, but soon realized that wasn't going to happen. Finally, she noticed that it was only going to be safely secured unless she had her interface ring on, "Great idea Stella."

Her eyes darted a few feet to the right of her and noticed a few bungee jackets concealed in a glass case. Upon further inspection she noticed a bright red button above it. Beside it read, **PRESS IN CASE OF FIRE**. "You have got to be kidding me..." She studied the case to see if there was another way to open it, but found no other way.

Suddenly she saw other pretty fairies start to playfully approach her with brightly coloured balls of magic in each of their hands; illuminating everything around them. She could hear them talking as they came closer, "Who is that?"

"What is she wearing?" Another girl said, she realized she was still concealed enough that she appeared to be a pretty, "This party is white-tie!"

Finally they came close enough for them to barely glimpse her face, "Look at her face..." Tecna didn't even rethink her decision; she punched her hand into the red button. Sirens exploded from all directions of the mansion and the jacket leaped into her awaiting hands. She quickly strapped the jacket on and it blinked a green light. She managed to directly face the fairies but they merely stumbled away from her in fright and extinguished the magic balls they were summoning.

"Hope you remember what to do in a fire drill," Tecna managed to say over the sirens. She hurdled herself over the edge of the building and fell into the unknown darkness, and before she knew it she shot back up again to see the fairies scurrying around worrying what to do. Tecna knew that if it was a real fire they all would have burned to death.

Finally on her second way down into the complete darkness she forced the jacket to let her go and she fell a few feet onto the grass. A few bruises she was sure; but at least she was in one sound piece. Tecna knew the wardens were going to be at Solaria Mansion any minute with their hovercars that would be able to spot her. She booked it into the pitch dark alleys and avoided every single person that came within a radius of her. She rushed as far as her legs could carry her until she safely made it back through the gate and back into the brush of her familiar zone. She realized she still wasn't safe yet as multiple hovercars flew through and around near her multiple times. Tecna figured out they were determined to find her.

She stayed concealed in spot and began to rethink what Stella told her, about the wardens denying her the operation. Tecna knew the ugly pixies were more of a nuisance to control than the fairies, so it was no wonder they wouldn't revoke it. That was just silly. She then remembered a rumor about a runaway city called Domino that housed the ugly pixies who didn't want to become full-fledged fairies. It was said to be completely unreachable without the help from a guide from the city. But Domino was only a myth...no city would be able to hide themselves in the wild and survive. There was no way...

She shivered at the thought of an entire city reduced to bare technology and relying on more primitive methods of surviving. She wondered if they were truly like the warrior's of the Dark Days; always on the merge of war with each other and killing each other over stupid things. The only difference would be that Domino wouldn't be killing each other over magic capabilities, but rather over who looked prettier as an ugly. She wondered if they would ever raid Magix and cause another war. Tecna shrugged off any other thought about Domino, "It's only a myth," she told herself.

Finally (after a good 30 minutes of lying in the damp shrubs) the wardens and their hovercars stopped flying over and silence overcame her surroundings. Tecna didn't waste a single moment and jumped up from her hiding place. She didn't even look ahead of her as she ran; she kept her eye on Magix as it slowly fell behind her. She had to make sure no hovercars would suddenly emerge behind her. It was funny, even when she made it back to her dorm room she could keep an eye on the city. Her room faced the city and could watch for any dangers all night long.

She made a detour through the trees instead of taking the path. She felt herself running faster as she shoved the tree branches and trees out of her way in a panic. Out of nowhere she spotted another figure pop up in front of her and the two of them collided and tumbled to the ground. Tecna immediately knew it had to be a warden.

She chose to use her most apologetic voice to the figure, "I'm sorry." She brought herself up to her knees.

"Oh good, I thought you were a warden," Tecna could tell by her voice she wasn't a warden. The figure sat up and let the moonlight shine just barely on its face. She was ugly just like herself.

"Who are you?" Tecna managed to ask her.

The other girl managed to laugh, "My name's Musa."

** Well, I'm going away on vacation on Thursday to Italy, so I will unfortunately not be able to update this story or my other story for a short period of time. I will update as soon as I can once I make it back home. –Ciao.**


	3. Chapter 3: Musa

**Ta-Daa, I'm back! My week has been hectic; assignments and tests being thrown at me. Glad it's kind of over now.**

Chapter 3: Musa

Musa was a very skinny girl with pale white skin, a lean skinny nose, slim lips, and had short navy blue hair pulled back into two giant pigtails. She showed looks of oriental descent that were very rare in this part of the world. She wore the same uniform Tecna wore at Alfea; grey pants and a white blouse with a small grey shield on the pocket of her blouse with her schools crest in it. From what Tecna could notice about Musa's uniform; she was out exploring. Her uniform was muddy and tattered. Musa spoke up first again, "My nickname is Twig...Who are you?"

It was entirely common for an ugly pixie to introduce her real name right away; and her ugly nickname, "Tecna, also known as Frizzy," she gave out a pitiful laugh after hearing herself give out her nickname. Why couldn't she have a better nickname? Musa's nickname seemed very suiting for her, after all, she was skinnier than most girls in Magix. Tecna's didn't seem that appropriate; her hair really wasn't that frizzy.

"So, I see you're on the run? Is it you who the wardens are after?" Tecna nodded her head slowly as she slowly began to sit up but was soon pulled by Musa into the brush as more hovercars flew over, "That is so cool...What did you do to get them involved?"

Tecna slowly licked her dry lips and whispered to Musa, "It's kind of a long story, but I snuck into Magix to see someone...who had just undergone the operation. Needless to say that person changed, and I had to make a getaway by bungee jumping off a mansion and pulling the fire alarm." She had to admit, her story was actually a pretty good one to tell.

"That's wicked cool, wish I was brave enough to sneak into Magix," Musa helped Tecna out of the bushes as the last hovercars disappeared for good and the world was silent once again, "But next time you're going to pull a trick like that, tell me in advance okay? I need time to bounce." They both laughed as they stepped out of their hiding spot. They began walking over to the rivers shore. Musa paused, snapped her fingers, and a hover board came zooming out from somewhere nearby, "Where's your board?" Tecna could only stare at Musa dumbly, "You mean you actually walked?"

"I...never got into boarding," Tecna admitted as she stood there in the night. Musa gave her a disapproving look and shook her head, "Was more into computers and hacking. I thought boards had trackers in them? Won't the city know of your location at all times?"

Musa laughed, "Oldest trick in the book...simple hack into its mainframe. Wow, you really don't know your hacks Frizzy." Musa picked up her board as if it weighted as much as a feather. She slung it under her arm and began walking alongside Tecna.

"Isn't it heavy too?"

"It's as light as a feather. Here," Musa handed it to Tecna. Tecna couldn't believe how light the board was. It was extremely flat and streamlined with rows of solar panels lining the front of it for charging. It was about 2 metres long and could hold two average sized people on it, "Runs on pre-placed magic grids in the city...but out in the wild you have to rely on magic deposits leftover from the Dark Days, and crash bracelets for safety of course," Musa pointed at a heavy looking black bracelet on each of her arms, "Will bound you in midair and your board will glide back under your feet if you fall off. Although, too rough of a fall and these things will pull your arm out of its sockets y'know?"

"Ah, I see. Logical enough...kind of," Tecna gulped and handed it back to Musa. Both girls made their way back down to the water's edge outside of Alfea. The river led around Magix, around Alfea, and led out past the Gardenia Ruins, and finally trailed out to sea miles and miles away. If you didn't own a board that could easily glide over; the massive river made for a perfect natural barrier. It kept everyone in, and dangers out. There was actually an invisible barrier midway in the river nicknamed the Andros Belt that (if you had your sensor ring) would warn you to turn around and head back or else the wardens would be out to get you. As Tecna always told herself as she left her sensor at home, 'Technology will never stop me.' To this day; it still hasn't been able to.

From where they sat, they could view the beautiful city of Magix. It was a common place for pixies like themselves to let off some steam and to take in the breathtaking scenery. "So, was this friend a boy?" Musa nudged Tecna's shoulder.

"Not at all...my used-to-be best friend Stella," Tecna held back any tears she had when she thought of Stella; all pretty and perfect. She really wanted to tell someone about her experience, and for some reason something inside of her was telling her to trust Musa; it wasn't like she had anymore friends to tell her story to...they were all fairies now.

Musa gave a sarcastic chuckle, "Let me guess...You went there expecting to see your old best friend again, but turns out that they are sickened to see you, treat you completely different, and no longer really want to be friends anymore until you become a fairy? Won't even talk to you..."

"Yes," Tecna's eyes widened in shock, "How did you...?" She found Musa cutting her off.

"I was the youngest out of all my friends," Musa sighed heavily, "Happened to _all _my friends. They no longer remember me, nor care about me until I become one of them. That's why I'm here at Alfea...until my birthday approaches and I guess I'll be joining some of them. I just don't see what would make them change so instantly. You can't just lose a best friend..."

Musa's words lingered in Tecna's mind. So it didn't just happen to her; it happened to everyone no matter how close too people ever got as ugly pixies. Were the pretty people in Magix so appalled by ugly faces that they wouldn't dare be around the ones they once loved and would rather forget their past completely? Tecna was very confused by the whole situation.

"Well, when my operation comes I'll still visit you here at Alfea if that makes you feel better? I promise," Tecna tried to cheer her up as best as she could. Musa seemed so much more different than any other ugly in Alfea. It wasn't just her appearance that made her different; it was the way she acted. As if she was becoming a fairy by force, not choice. It was always a choice after all. No one stopped you from living in houses around Alfea, but who would want to?

Musa looked at her straight across navy bangs in an annoyed way, "You have no idea how many people have promised me that," she huffed silently under her breath. She was just barely loud enough for Tecna to hear.

"Huh?"

"Never mind," Musa changed the topic, "When's your birthday anyway? Mines on December 16th."

Tecna felt a smile grow across her face, "Wait...me too!" Tecna could barely control her excitement. She couldn't believe how this new girl happened to be turning 17 and getting the operation on the same day, "That's so cool. We'll be fairies together, and we won't ditch the other."

Musa didn't formulate a response.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Soon December 16th was only about a week away. Musa and Tecna quickly bonded and became fast friends. Musa taught Tecna how to hover board, and Tecna taught Musa how to hack into Magix. However, one day they both came back to the same spot near the river where they both sat when they first met each other. Musa looked asthough she had a lot on her mind.

Tecna peered at silent Musa who was staring angrily at the city and looked to be in deep thought, "Uhm...Musa?" She tried to talk to her.

"Hm...Oh...sorry was thinking about something," Musa took a deep breath, "It's funny how comfortable I am around you already Tecna. I can tell you're pretty genuine person. You have inner beauty...that type of thing."

"Uh...thanks," Tecna smirked, "But we all know outer beauty is more important though. Wait until your birthday...you'll walk out of the hospital looking and feeling beautiful, the _real _you."

Musa brought her knees up to her chest, "That won't be the real me though...that's Magix's idea of me. The real me is who I am right now The me that walks out of that hospital will be someone totally new and unrecognizable."

Tecna stuttered and thought of something to try and comfort her, "Not really...I mean you walk out with... some of your same key features...And it will still be you...just an upgraded version of yourself..." Musa immediately jumped on her feet, snapped her fingers and jumped on her waiting hover board. She stood there staring at Tecna.

"Yo, Frizzy," Musa prepared herself to leave, "Meet me here tomorrow at 10pm. We're going to go on a little adventure..." Musa gave her a sly smile; a very odd sly smile as she looked out at the river towards the direction of the Andros Belt.

Tecna jumped up to her feet, "Wait...to where?" Tecna wasn't sure what Musa was talking about whatsoever. They only hung around Alfea, and barely went anywhere near Magix. Where could she want to possibly go?

"We're going to Gardenia," Musa yelled out as she took off into the forest at high speeds before Tecna could formulate a response. The magenta haired pixie stood there, mouth agape. She had no idea what to think of Musa's idea of an adventure, except that it was a completely illogical one according to Tecna.

Tecna wasn't sure if Musa understood her history classes very well, or if she was mistaking Gardenia for something else. A thousand years ago maybe you would want to go there for a visit. But now, the city was nothing more than ruins; a lasting reminder of the Dark Days.

**Get ready for a history lesson. It is time to learn about the Dark Days.**


	4. Chapter 4: Death in Billions

_Chapter 4: Death in Billions_

"Wow, you _actually _showed up," Musa laughed as she zipped up her dorm jacket in the bitter cold, "Impressive." Tecna looked out onto the river to notice the water was extremely choppy and the wind was really rough. She shivered and zipped up her jacket as well. The weather really wasn't working out in their favour.

"You seemed eager to go," Tecna shrugged as Musa handed her one of her spare hover boards.

"I promise you will not be disappointed," Musa winked, "We'll have lots of fun. Gardenia is quite a site at night."

"Whatever you say," Tecna snapped her fingers and her board hovered beneath her feet. She slid on her crash bracelets that molded around the shape of her wrists. She jumped up and down on her board a couple times to be sure it was steady. It was very steady and sturdy underneath her feet. Suddenly Musa handed her a pair of goggles. "Uh...What are these for Twig?"

"The waters rough and dangerous anytime you go out. You want to see where you're going, right?" Musa jumped on her board and slid her goggles on over her eyes. Tecna did the same. "Left your interface ring at home?"

Tecna nodded and giggled as she pulled up her shirt a little bit to prove there was nothing attached to her belly button.

"Now," Musa snapped her fingers to raise her own board underneath her feet, "One more warning: You need to keep close to me. The water will be noisy and we won't be able to communicate without our rings. Don't get lost."

Tecna gulped as Musa edged her board over the water and Tecna edged her board forward to follow her. She had a hint of doubt and felt she should have turned around. After all, she did promise Stella to not do anything to get the wardens involved. She shrugged it off and guaranteed to herself that she wasn't going to get caught. Both of them soon quickened faster over the waves that were getting bigger and were causing larger splashes of water. They were already dripping wet in the freezing cold water. She could only hope she wouldn't catch a cold after all of this; especially with her operation only a week away.

Soon Tecna could see faintly coming up ahead of her a light blue glow; indicating the position of the Andros Belt. As soon as she and Musa crossed over she held her breath; fearing that somehow they would be out to catch them, and force them to remain ugly forever. She couldn't get the thought of herself looking the way she did right now; but covered in wrinkles, grey hair, and signs of age. A wave soon knocked Tecna back into reality and she concentrated on following Musa over the water. She heard Musa screaming with excitement and glee ahead of her.

As the last signs of civilization disappeared behind her; she finally could take in the world around her. It was one thing to be out here during a school trip; but it was another to actually be here in the fierce wild at night. Everything seemed so much more dangerous, crisp, and beautiful. As the full moon shone brightly over the crystal clear water and trees; she could make out faint wildlife of deer's, rabbits, and owls. It was definitely a pleasant change than the constant viewing of Magix and of all the pretty fairies. Tecna finally had to admit that nature was a very beautiful place. Unlike her and every other ugly pixie; nature didn't need an operation to be beautiful.

It just was.

Finally after a good 10 minutes of zooming through the winds and being splashed in the face every 10 seconds; Musa finally shifted her board towards shore and she soon followed. They both remained in utter silence as they slowly hovered their way towards the ruins of Gardenia. Until the loud rapids of water finally left their eardrums; they started talking again.

"So, was that fun? Or was that fun?" Musa nudged Tecna as they hovered alongside each other.

"It was...thrilling," Tecna squeezed some of the water out of her clothes because they were drenched, "Didn't think I'd be getting this wet. If I catch hyperthermia I'll never forgive you."

"Even if you do...It'll be worth it to come here. I've got something I want to show you," Musa replied as she pushed through multiple branches and leaves. As soon as they emerged from the deep, tangled brush; the ruins stood directly in front of them. Tecna stood there with mouth dropped.

They glided through the dead and abandoned streets in silence; as if worried to disturb any of the spirits that still may be lingering. She sighed as she looked up at the black metal skeletons of the once massive buildings. Vegetation was slowly invading and surrounding some of the remaining structures. She wondered how many people lived in one of these buildings...600? Maybe 1000 of them squished like little bees in a hive. It really surprised Tecna to learn that so many people lived in such a massive city. She remembered in history class that at one point the population of Earth was over 10 billion before the collapse of civilization centuries before her. After that, the total population of Earth was a struggling 50,000.

Seeing the city at night really made it appear more real. She remembered that during school trips and history lectures that they made the Warrior Fairies seem like complete idiots. Cities fighting with each other over resources, power, beauty...the list went on and on. On top of that; they used magic as a natural resource as well as a weapon. She remembered learning that they used magic to construct _everything _that they ever built. No wonder only metal remains were left of the civilization.

"It really gives you a more appreciation for life y'know? I wouldn't have wanted to be alive during the Dark Days," Musa broke the silence between them. Her voice echoed in every direction around them.

"How can billions of people die in almost an instant?" Tecna felt very sad as she asked this. It really wasn't explained that much to her in school; as if to avoid the subject as much as they could.

Musa sighed sadly, "Well, you know how these people used magic for everything right?" Tecna shook her head, "Well, they honestly used it for _**everything**_ because that was the power of magic. Mostly everyone was born with magical powers, and on top of that magic could be mined as a resource like gold, and iron. It was found nearly everywhere. So that's why it was used as fuel for their cars, building materials for everyday objects and even buildings themselves were constructed with strong magic walls." She slapped the side of a giant rusty metal frame, "Hence why the metal skeletons are all that remain of the structures. They will last forever if constructed out of metal."

Both girls continued to hover through the abandoned streets. Tecna managed to speak in, "What does this have to do with anything?"

"I'm getting to that," Musa rolled her eyes; "You have to be able to comprehend everything that led up to the end. Anyway, since this was the time before the operation and mostly everyone was ugly and had magic powers...people were bound to get jealous at some point. It was perfectly acceptable to kill each other (even in your own city) over power and beauty. It would be like you and me fighting to the death over who was prettier, or stronger. It was scarier to see cities scorch each other with bombs over nothing more than magic and looks. It was stupid. Everyone just wanted to be on top."

"And you aren't exaggerating?"

"No! People actually once lived like this. For centuries they torched the sky with missiles and bombs and polluted the skies, water, and ground with toxins and poison. It seems we got too good at destroying each other, until..." She stopped for a dramatic pause, "The Anti-Magic was released upon the world." Musa paused to take in her surroundings. "We're unsure if it was meant as a city killer, or if it was an act of terrorism upon the entire world. Either way, they didn't know what they were up against. Like mold consuming bread; it spread to anything with a single speck of magic concealed within it. It changed the structure of magic and making it decompose and combust in an instant. So you remember how everything they ever made was made of magic? Imagine all of it exploding spontaneously into fire."

"They...never told us this in school..." Tecna's mouth became dry and she began to shake slightly, "Then what happened?" She felt herself lingering on Musa's every word, "What happened to the fairies with...powers and magic within them?" Musa gave her a look to tell her to steer away from that topic, "Oh..." She trailed off.

The wind currents managed to sweep the anti magic globally and were soon a global epidemic. With the cities ablaze with panic, only the few who weren't fairies had to leave their burning cities and live in the polluted and desolate wilderness. With so much dependence on magic, more ended up dying anyway due to lack of survival skills and the toxins in the polluted waters. That's when the last survivors of the anti-magic learned to ultimately bond together to survive the best way they could. And they somehow did. The survivors learned to rely on technology, and hence the world we live in now. We live in a world not entirely dependent on magic."

"What about the magic grids in the city? How about the fairies with magic shooting out of the palms of their hands? What about them?" Tecna felt herself so overwhelmed with questions about the true history of her world.

"All _replicated _and fake magic. It's nowhere near as powerful as actual magic from centuries ago. However, there is a legend about these people who run our cities from behind the scenes. It's been said they've been able to harness anti-magic to the point that they are extremely powerful and unstoppable in combat if they chose to. They're called Witches," Musa smirked, "It's just a myth though. No one has been fortunate enough to see them face to face."

"Happy ending."

Musa shrugged in response.

"Thanks for opening my eyes Twig," Tecna joking punched Musa. "But there's one more thing I want to ask you Musa...How do you know all of this?"

Musa giggled, "I thought you'd never ask. It's kind of the reason I brought you out here. An old friend taught me everything I know."

"Oh, but he's pretty now I guess?" Tecna asked in a sad tone; feeling sorry for the loss of such an awesome sounding friend. He sounded like someone who really knew his history.

"Yo...Frizzy, can you promise me something? It's a huge promise you must make."

"Sure thing, you can trust me." Musa searched Tecna's eyes as she said this for signs of lies or mistrust in her words. She found Tecna to be one hundred percent genuine in what she was saying.

"You can't tell anyone about what I'm about to show you..." She bit her skinny lips just slightly. "You can't bounce on me."

"I swear! I'll never tell a living soul! I would never be that illogical."

Musa's eyes gazed up to the top of a metal skeleton of a roller coaster just ahead of them at the edge of the city nearly entirely engulfed by foliage and trees. It was in shambles. She took a deep breath and sighed, "There's someone I want you to meet, tonight."

"But we won't be back until-" Musa cut Tecna off before she could finish her statement.

"He's not in the city Frizzy..." A smile emerged from Musa's face, "He's out here."

**Sorry for lack of excitement...but I had to explain at some point what happened during the Dark Days. Anyone who has read Uglies will see how similar my story is to the real book.**


	5. Chapter 5: Afraid to Grow Up

**I'm still alive...no worries. Damn Calculus & Chemistry classes keep me busy every night. I think I'm about ready to puke up stoichiometry and all the elements on the periodic table...LOL.**

**This chapter isn't as long as I would have hoped...but I just wanted to get this update out before the end of the weekend. Happy Friday everyone!**

**Side note: I'm working on my Winx Club Awards one-shot story currently...hoping to have it done soon.**

_Chapter 5: Afraid to Grow Up_

A shiver went up Tecna's spine. After hearing this she suddenly felt watched as if there was indeed someone out in the ruins watching them. Tecna knew that it was possible to meet people from other cities, but was rare and it was against the law and especially dangerous. Cities may have stopped wars between each other; but there were still strong tensions between them. She felt Musa was just trying to scare her, but she decided just go along with what she was telling her.

"So, he's from another city then?" Tecna cocked her head to the side and narrowed her teal eyes on Musa.

"In a way...yes. He's kind of an old friend of mine," Musa guided her hover board towards the roller coaster remains ahead of them. Tecna closely followed, "He knows everything about the wild. And he's a pretty good trickster."

"And he's not made up? Are you sure this isn't a big joke?" Tecna asked as Musa reached the base of the roller coaster track. "Because if it is..." She wedged her board over the wooden frame and it continued to float even though there appeared to be no magic deposits below her keeping her afloat. "How are you...?"

"This friend of mine did it. He learnt how to create prosthetic magic like they do in the city and placed them directly underneath the wooden boards. And thus..." Musa steered her board up the track and she zoomed to the top of the track and appeared to stop at the top. Tecna huffed and did the same and stopped at the very top where Musa was waiting with her board switched off. Tecna did the same and stood on the old wooden beams.

"Um...cool but what was that for-ow!" She saw a blinding light for a brief second. Tecna realized Musa shot a flare into the air right in front of her, "Blind me why don't you...Was that a signal?"

"Mhmm...I hope I was right and he's out here right now. He visits Gardenia once in a while. I really want you to meet him," Musa looked out into the distance; opposite direction of the city of Magix and out towards the unknown wild, "You'd really like him."

"Can you tell me who he is already Twig?" Tecna was tired of hearing Musa avoid revealing his name. She wondered why keep one person such a secret; even though he was from another city. It just didn't add up. "I'm tired of you not telling me...and I suspect he's make-belief."

"Oh, he's _very _real. His name's Timmy," Musa continued to scan the horizon and didn't look at Tecna. She wondered if Musa would get a signal back and this Timmy character was indeed as real as Musa says he was.

"Timmy...? What an illogical name," Tecna chuckled, "If he's not from Magix, Alfea, or Gardenia...where is he from?"

Musa bit her lip; as if scared to tell Tecna. She finally gave in, "He's from Domino."

"Domino doesn't exist," Tecna coldly replied. She was almost positive that Musa was lying about Timmy; he had a ridiculous name, was from a non-existent city, and seemed to be very mysterious all around. "You are so...full of crap. The joke is over Musa."

"Right...joke." Musa rolled her eyes and they both stood in awkward silence.

"I can't wait to not be ugly anymore," Tecna broke the silence, "Can't believe the operation is pretty much less than a week away. I can get rid of this odd magenta hair, these skin imperfections, and these less than perfect lips." She covered up her mouth with her hand as she said the last part.

"You're not ugly Tec," Musa responded in a sincere way.

"You're completely illogical."

"No I'm serious! I love the colour of your hair, and your skin imperfections are not even noticeable. You are naturally beautiful," Musa gave her an honest smile; "You don't actually believe there's only one way to look?"

"You just _know _when you see someone who is beautiful. They look...magnificent," Tecna sighed in a dream-like way.

"Do you not get it? They all have big eyes, skinny bodies, full lips, and large chests...They're all identical!" Musa held in more angry outbursts. Tecna thought Musa was about to cry.

"But we're freaks!"

"No we're not! We're normal and unique. We may not be drop dead gorgeous, but at least we're not overly fake and glorified to extremes," Musa gathered her skinny hands into fists at her sides, "In Domino things are so much better."

"How would you know?"

"Timmy told me all about his city," Musa sighed. Tecna was sick and tired of this Timmy character. She was now convinced Timmy did not exist; just like the Witches, and just liked Domino. "But do you not see how you're programmed to think like this? If everyone older than you is beautiful; then you're going to automatically believe that everything else is ugly. During the dark days most people were ugly...and few were fortunate enough to be somewhat pretty. No matter the time period; there will always be ugly people."

Hearing those last words made Tecna think of the Pixies-For-Life...or known as the people who the operation just didn't work on. They stayed out of the public eyes all their lives and lived a life of solitude. No one forced them to stay inside; but it was just shameful to see such ugly people. _Especially _old pixies were something someone would never want to see.

Tecna gulped, "I think you're afraid of the operation."

"No I'm not afraid. I'm just tired of these boundaries...and this worthless city," suddenly a large gust of wind blew Musa's dorm jacket open. Musa let it flail behind her; "I want to be free...I want to truly live. I love sneaking around, hover boarding, and all the stuff we do right now. I like the stuff we do as pixies."

"Don't you think it's time to stop with these childish games Twig? You know...be more adult like? Becoming an Enchantix fairy is the first step to becoming that," Tecna snapped at Musa, "Now stop being afraid of the operation and just accept the way things are supposed to be!"

"I'm not afraid of undergoing the Fairy operation!" Musa yelled in a frustrated way.

"Maybe you aren't scared of that...But maybe you're just afraid of growing up!" Tecna clenched her teeth. She couldn't understand why Musa had to be so complex and different. She didn't see why she needed to question everything about beauty and society. All Tecna wanted was to be with Stella again; things were so simple when Musa wasn't around. There was something about Musa that didn't seem to add up.

"I think you should leave..." Musa avoided making eye contact with the magenta haired pixie. Tecna realized that Musa was extremely upset.

"Why?"

"It's late and I'm going to wait around for Timmy some more," she gazed over the city, "I know you don't want anything to do with him...and it's getting late for you."

"I...err...okay..." Tecna stuttered, "By the way I'm sorry for my illogical outburst."

"Whatever...it's fine." Tecna knew by the tone of her voice that Musa was not fine at all.

XxXXxxXXxx

She sighed. Almost 17, finally.

It was soon the evening before her birthday. Tecna stared out her dorm room window at the city barely visible in the distance. Soon she would become one of them; an Enchantix Fairy, and soon she would be living it up in Magix with Stella...and hopefully Musa.

She never saw Musa again after their night in Gardenia that turned sour. She became worried that this "Timmy" character might have done something, but she knew it was more likely that Musa was keeping a low profile and ignoring her at Alfea. The way Musa sounded that night she wondered if Musa was going to show up for her operation...she seemed very opposed about the whole idea. Well, Musa seemed opposed about society itself entirely.

Tecna flipped on her interface ring to pull up a hologram computer on the far wall. She flipped on an image of herself currently, and on the right was an image of a beautiful version of herself; she would give this to the officials on her surgery day and they would make her look like this. Her eyes were larger, lips fuller, nose skinnier, body skinnier, and most important of all; she had shoulder lengthen hair in a pixie style cut in a dazzling shade of chocolate brown. This look meant she could have an all knew start in Magix; and forget about the ugly life.

"That picture looks nothing like you," a voice called out from behind. Tecna flipped around to see Musa standing behind her with a grim smile on her face, "Listen...I'm sorry about being angry before...I wanted to reconcile things between us before our birthday. So...I figured we'd do one last fun thing as ugly pixies that we are."

Tecna flopped on her bed and smiled, "That's the first logical thing you've said in awhile. What did you have in mind?"

Musa walked over and dumped the compartments of her backpack on Tecna's bed, "Sleeping bags, compass, position finder, first aid kit, fire starter, water purifier, and enough dehydrated food for 4 weeks. Only two weeks supply if going with a friend," she giggled. Tecna suddenly felt dizzy and scared; something was very wrong. She couldn't look at the supplies Musa presented her.

She licked her dry lips, "Are we...um...going on a trip? We only have tonight and we're going to the hospital tomorrow," Tecna paused, "Are we going back to Gardenia? The sea?"

"I _know _what tomorrow is," Musa continued to giggle, "And nope, even farther away."

"How far are we talking?" Tecna felt sick to her stomach; she suddenly knew where Musa was planning on going. She closed her eyes and tried to block out Musa and her illogical ideas. Tecna was sick and tired of hearing about Timmy.

"We're going to where Timmy lives. We're going to travel to Domino."


	6. Chapter 6: Mythological Kind

Chapter 6: An Encounter with the Mythological Kind

"They don't separate people from pixies/fairies or Uglies/pretties. You're free to make more decisions in your life and be free from this garbage of a city," Musa seemed to ignore the fact that Tecna was having a heart attack from shock, "They live without being separated by nature...camping if you will. They live in a primitive way kind of...but they have some technology. But more importantly...you will never have to get the operation...ever."

"I...I..." Tecna found speech impossible. She found herself burying her face in her hands while Musa continued to talk to her. Tecna only wished she would stop talking about all her stupid ideas. "So that means everyone is ugly..."

"Which means _no one _is ugly. You wouldn't believe how much more peaceful it is out there," Musa responded in a dream like way. Suddenly she stared at Tecna in a serious way, "I've got another secret to tell you."

"Oh god Musa...not another secret," Tecna groaned and stared up at the ceiling, "They normally don't bring good news."  
>"I'm telling you anyway...this is important," Musa adjusted her short pigtails, "Remember when I told you about all my friends that left me? Well, not all of them became fairies."<p>

"You mean they..." Tecna became silent. She thought everyone became a fairy and lived in Magix once they hit 17. It seemed running away to Domino wasn't as rare as she thought it was. She wondered what would make people want to flee their perfect society.

"It was all planned out. Months ago a group of six of us planned to meet up with Timmy in Gardenia so he could guide us to his city. Well, I chickened out and so did a couple others. That was the last time I talked to my old friends...until that night we were in Gardenia a couple days ago," Musa paused, "I met Timmy in Gardenia after you left and he told me of my friends who want me to badly be with them in Domino."

"Wait wait wait..." Tecna interrupted, "You are so sick of this city that you'll risk your life with this stranger to take you to this city that might not even exist? You're more illogical than I thought."

"That's why I want you to join me...Run away...tonight."

Tecna blinked, "Why didn't you tell me all of this before?"

"You would have thought I was a crazy moron," Musa crossed her arms across her torso.

"You've got that right Twig...How are you supposed to get there anyway?" Tecna was finding this hard to believe this was all happening the night before she was becoming an Enchantix fairy. She imagined tonight just being a night of relaxation and reflection on her time in Alfea. Now it was as if she was thrown into a whole new world; where a simple decision would change her life forever.

"Special hoverboards mean to travel far distances," Musa shrugged her shoulders, but suddenly found she didn't have anything else to say. She looked at Tecna to see that she wasn't going to look her in the eyes again, "I'm losing you, aren't I? I knew it...I should have told you earlier so you could have some time to take all of this information in."

"That wouldn't have changed anything. Musa...I want to be pretty and powerful...I want people to pay attention to me because of how beautiful I am," Tecna sighed and looked out her window at the distant city of Magix, "I'm going to be an Enchantix fairy. But I hope you realize that by the time you turn 23 or so...the operation won't work and you'll be stuck this way...forever," she gulped.

"Frizzy...I'm leaving, forever," Musa got up and onto her feet and shoved all her gear into her bag. "You can't tell anyone about me running away to Domino, got it?"

"I promise I won't, I have no reason to!" Tecna managed to give her a grim smile. Suddenly Musa handed her a crumpled piece of white paper. She opened up the piece of paper to reveal some sort of riddle, "Um...what is this?" Tecna was already having a bad feeling in her gut about the note.

"Secret directions...you know, in case you wanted to find me and come to Domino on your own..." Musa smiled at her, "I'm sure you can figure them out."

"Ah, I see..." Tecna bit her lip. She wanted to go with Musa to know that she would make it to Domino okay, and then she didn't want to go because she loved Magix and her dream was about to come true. She couldn't leave it all behind...even for Musa. They sat in awkward silence for awhile, "Be careful Musa..." Tecna finally broke the silence between them.

"I will...you be careful too. Don't let the operation change who you really are on the inside," Musa gave her a solemn nod as a final good-bye. She grabbed her backpack and slipped out Tecna's window. Tecna sprang to her feet and ran up to her window and looked at Musa faintly in the moonlight.

"Musa...wait!" Tecna paused for a breath. Musa stood on her hover board looking up at the magenta haired girl and waited for her to continue, "You know...I wish I could have seen what you would have looked like as an Enchantix fairy...you know, all prettied up..."

Musa chuckled, "Well Frizzy...I guess you're stuck remembering me looking like this." She zoomed off into the woods. Tecna stood there trying to formulate any type of response but she was lost in her own words. It finally hit her that she would never be seeing Musa again. She clutched the small note Musa gave her to her chest as if her life depended on it.

XxXXxxXXxx

Tecna sat on a bench in front of Alfea as she waited for the hover car to pick her up and take her to the hospital. She had with her a small duffle bag filled with a few random things from her time at Alfea; and of course the note Musa gave her before her departure the night before. She decided out of boredom to read it as she sat there impatiently waiting:

_Take the coaster straight past the gap,_

_Until you find one that's long and flat._

_Correct is the sea but watch for fire bug eyes,_

_Then take the side you most despise._

_Make your way to Waterfall Peak,_

_Wait until morning and you'll find what you seek._

Tecna sighed, "This makes absolutely no sense," she crumpled up her note and shoved it back in her bag. She blamed her inability to understand the note on her lack of sleepfrom the following night. She kept having the same horrifying dream. She imagined a strange city a blaze with people screaming in fear. She remembered being consumed by smoke as she briefly saw ugly people like herself being attacked by these cruel looking figures. The figures all had pale skin, bright evil eyes, sleek facial features, profound baring teeth, sleek hair in a variety of dark colours and hair lengths. She noticed the cruel figures were shooting out dark beams of magic from their palms. Once she shot up out of slumber she knew what she was imaging. The descriptions all made sense; she was imagining Witches.

Tecna grumbled, "I think I'm completely losing my mind...It just doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't make sense?" A voice called from behind her. She turned around to see a freshmen student around the age of 14. She had peachy orange hair, pale porcelain-like skin, light coloured lips, and small light blue eyes, "I'm sorry...I just heard you talking to yourself and wondered if everything was okay."

"Yeah I'm fine," Tecna looked down at her feet, "I'm just worried about becoming an Enchantix Fairy and all. I just turned 17 today," Tecna paused and realized she never gave the girl her name, "My name's Tecna."

"Nova," the mysterious girl smiled brightly, "Well, shouldn't you be excited? This is an incredible day for you. You won't be called ugly anymore..." Nova sat down next to Tecna on the bench.

"It's hard to explain what I'm feeling right now," Tecna sighed, "It's going to be great seeing my old friend in Magix and be able to truly enjoy life...but I'm sad because I'm going to miss sneaking out, hover boarding, and going to Gardenia. I'll be comforted when they grind my face to a better shape and implant some wings deep into my skin." Somehow putting the operation that way; Tecna wasn't feeling comforted by it at all. "So why haven't I ever seen you before?"

"Tough," Nova gave her a grim smile, "And I'm new to Alfea. My family just moved here a few weeks ago from a city nearby. It's weird...our cities are practically the same. The laws and rules are exact...and the people are even more similar. I almost feel like I haven't left home," she chuckled.

"...Really? That's so...hard to believe," Tecna shut her eyes briefly. She imagined going to another city and finding Alfea and Magix the same way she always saw them. She then imagined a person exactly like herself, and another pretty girl just like Stella. Tecna shook herself back into reality.

"So do you have anything you can recommend an ugly pixie like myself? You seem to have a lot of wisdom about pixie life at Alfea."

"I'm not full of grand wisdom about pixie life...Although I recommend hover boarding all the way to Gardenia. You'd be surprised by the people you might meet out on the water," Tecna chuckled, "I sure did."

"Uhh...thanks," Nova looked at her in a confused way, "Anyway I better be going to be classes, enjoy the beautiful life Tecna. Maybe our lives will cross again sometime?" Nova smiled and stood up from her seat next to Tecna.

"Oh I'm sure our paths _will _crossagain," Tecna replied, "I'm sure of it." Nova smiled and ran towards Alfea's entrance to make her way to her classes. Tecna was left alone with her thoughts until she saw something very odd and strange. She heard the hover car turn around the corner and that's when she knew something was seriously wrong. Unlike a normal white hover car they use to take people to the hospital; she saw a black one approach her at very high speeds because of the streamlined shape of the car. It blew leaves and dirt into the air as it landed a couple metres away from startled Tecna.

For the longest time the hover car just parked there and it appeared there was no one inside at all driving the vehicle. Suddenly a door opened and one figure stepped out. Tecna immediately had goose bumps. The woman was very pale, had high cheekbones, a pointy nose, and her eyes were dark grey and emotionless. Finally, the woman had sleek navy blue hair and was dressed in a full black outfit with a silver 'W' on the front of her outfit over her belly button. Tecna thought she was dreaming or having a really bad nightmare; standing in front of her in the flesh was a Witch.

"Are you Tecna?" The woman asked coldly. It appeared the woman had no emotions whatsoever and she gave off a cold vibe as she walked closer towards her.

"Yes, that's me. Is there a problem?" Tecna tried to hide any fear she had. She looked around Alfea's campus to find it desolate. She knew that couldn't just be a coincidence with the fact she was seeing a thought-to-be mythic person.

"Well...yes there is in fact," the woman replied sternly, "You will have to come with me to head quarters. You see...there's a problem with your operation."

Tecna felt her heart skip a beat and her stomach twist into knots. She didn't know how else to feel about the situation; there's no way that encountering a Witch and having her tell you there's a problem with the operation could be any good news in any way. Without another word the woman grabbed her arm and ushered her inside the hover car. Tecna couldn't help but notice the woman's touch was cold and icy; almost inhuman. The hover car zoomed away from Alfea and Tecna couldn't help but question as she looked back at the school; why was there a problem with her operation?

**Time for the real story to begin.**


	7. Chapter 7: Broken Promises

Chapter 7: Broken Promises

Soon the hover car passed through the city of Magix, passed the hospital, and eventually into the unknown parts of her city that Tecna didn't know existed. There were rows upon rows of factories. However to Tecna's surprise the hover car kept going and soon was on a quiet grid road over a larger hill. Once she got a view of what was ahead of her at the bottom of the hill; she cringed. At the bottom sat a windowless and door less building only rising about two stories in the air. The hover car seemed to pass over many security sensors as it approached the mysterious building. Suddenly the hover car hovered over the flat roof until it opened revealed a long shaft reaching far beneath the Earth. It only took Tecna a couple seconds to realize that there was a massive building concealed underneath the ground; and this was indeed the Witches headquarters.

The hover car kept descending for what felt like ages. Tecna remembered counting in her head all the floors she passed. Once they halted and exited the hover car with duffle bag in hand; she counted 16 stories, and with multiple more stories left. She wondered how big this building truly was, and why it had to be so large.

"Follow me," the Witch held a grasp on Tecna's arm as she was ushered down the dark hospital-like hallways. The woman's sharp fingernails stabbed her skin and made her arm shiver by how cold her icy hands felt, "The boss wants to see you immediately." Tecna wasn't sure if this was a privilege to see the woman in charge, or if this would be a frightening experience. She assumed the way her day was going so far; this wasn't going to be a pleasurable experience at all.

She couldn't help but glance multiple times at the Witch she was with. This woman was so creepy looking, yet there was some sense of beauty seen in the figure. It was a frightening kind of beautiful that only made Tecna wonder if they were born this way, or if it was another type of secret surgery to reform themselves this way.

As they continued down the hall more Witches appeared around them busily working about on normal business. Tecna noticed that some were male. However one thing that Tecna really noticed was that they all shared the same features; pale skin, pointy noses, high cheekbones, dark hair, and emotionless eyes. They all appeared to be much taller than normal people and bared a more powerful looking structure. The looks of these witches appeared to be almost hawk-like. She wondered how these people became Witches and what it was like being able to harness dark magic. Some Witches were dressed in full black outfits like the Witch she was with, others wore doctors' coats, and few were seen in dark grey outfits.

"What the hell is this place...?" Tecna muttered to herself. She fought the urge to attempt to break free of the woman's grasp and make a dash for the exit. Unfortunately it appeared there was no way to the surface without a hover car. She was trapped miles below the Earth's surface with hundreds of people who could probably kill her if given the chance.

Finally after a few minutes the two of them stopped in front of a pair of plain double doors. The Witch let go, "She's waiting for you in there," she looked at her sternly like always. Her wolf-like eyes made Tecna feel like as if she was some sort of prey; and one wrong move and she would be done for.

"I...uhh...thanks," Tecna nodded and stepped inside the room ahead of her. It was a dimly lit and dull room. The only object in the room was a long business table and one empty seat as soon as Tecna walked in; and at the end was a figure with the back of the tall seat facing Tecna instead of the figure itself. Tecna quietly placed her duffle bag on the floor and she sat in the empty giant black chair. Without a word, the figure spun around to face Tecna.

This Witch looked much different from the rest. She still had pale skin but her eyes we a lighter shade of blue and there was navy blue makeup around her eyes. Her hair was light blue and was pulled into a high ponytail that stretched to her lower back. Tecna noticed she was wearing a dark teal outfit with a silver "I" labeled on the front. Finally, she had matching high heeled boots and a long blue cape swung over her shoulders. She was indeed dressed like she was in charge.

"I'm Dr. Icy," the woman stated.

"Tecna," she gulped quietly.

"Oh believe me, I _know _who you are," Dr. Icy brought her arms together and placed her elbows on the table, she leaned toward Tecna with a stern look in her eyes, "We have a problem Tecna..."

"Is this about the incident at Solaria mansion? I swear the bungee jacket was a spare and I didn't mean to press the fire alarm. This is just a big misunderstanding..." Tecna wasn't sure what to call the woman.

Dr. Icy cut her off, "Icy will do," she paused, "And no, this isn't about some Pixie prank, this is about your friend...Musa," she gave her a somewhat wicked smile that bared her sharp teeth, "It seems she's gone missing."

"I don't know where she went," Tecna gazed down at the floor and avoided looking at Icy who was staring at her with her sharp eyes.

"Oh...but I think you do," Icy tapped her long fingernails on the table, "Tecna, this process will go a lot more smoothly if you just answer all of my questions completely, honestly, and truthfully," Icy leaned back in her giant black chair.

"I only will if you can answer one question for me," Tecna looked at Icy straight in the eyes, "Where am I?" Tecna made a sigh of relief when Icy gave her a small solemn smile, meaning she would find out the answer to her question.

"Fair enough Tecna," Icy cleared her throat, "Right now you are at Special Circumstances headquarters. As you may have already figured out, every member here is a cold-blooded Witch. To make this as simple as I can; we keep this city as blissful and orderly as we can. We keep this city safe from...well threats the Wardens don't take care of," Icy replied, "The Wardens keep safety and order within the city limits and we...well take care of problems that arise outside the city limits like...other cities for example, and anything else that poses a threat to the city." Tecna sat there in shock-places like Domino really did exist. Musa wasn't joking, "But now Ms. Tecna...I would like to go ahead and ask my questions now?"

Tecna clenched each of the armrests in fear, "Ask what you want."

Icy's questions were asked rapid fast. She clearly had a lot to ask Tecna about her missing friend.

"How long did you know Musa?"

"About a month or so...We lived in different dorms at Alfea so I never knew her before..."

"And did she ever talk about her older friends?"

"Yeah, the ones that were older than her and already living in Magix," Tecna knew where Icy's questions were heading. She had to keep Musa's secret safe still; even if she was trapped miles under the ground with people who could probably tear her to shreds.

"Just like you and Stella, hmm?" Icy continued to glare at Tecna who was confused by that response. How much did this woman know about her? "Did you know that a group of her friends ran away and have never been heard from since?"

"What do you mean?" Tecna lied through her teeth.

"What did I tell you about answering honestly to me Tecna?" she gritted her teeth, "I know you know," she paused, "We learnt that 6 of them ended up running away the day before their 17th birthday. A few chickened out and stayed behind to live in the city. We have reason to believe that someone tempted them from outside our own city to leave the city forever." Tecna knew there was only one person she could possibly be talking about; Timmy. Musa truly was right; Timmy was very much real. "This situation is a special circumstance so we watched Musa carefully hoping she would eventually bring us to them."

"Well...why weren't you guys logical enough to you know...stop her?" After saying this, Icy gave her a dirty look and she clenched her teeth.

Tecna could tell she was suppressing her anger and frustration towards her, "It's because of _you _Tecna."

"Me? How...?" Tecna exclaimed. She couldn't figure out how she was linked into this mess, she shut her eyes and shook her head; Icy however kept talking to her.

"We seen she was quickly befriending you so we thought you would be a reason for her to stick around and not run off again." Tecna remembered that she tried to convince Musa to stay; to see how great life was in Magix. However (seeing as though she ran away still) Tecna admitted she failed to convince her at all.

"It's not my fault. Please don't blame me for all of-"Tecna tried to apologize but Icy cut her off.

"You need to help us Tecna," Icy replied sharply, "You need to find her...find all the runaways." Tecna sat there wide eyed, what was this Witch talking to her about?

"What makes you think they want to be found though?" Tecna questioned this grand woman in power.

"What if they were _lied_ to? What if they were _tricked_?" Icy's eyes narrowed on Tecna's as she sat there trying to formulate a response. She remembered Musa's face when she left; her face so full of excitement and bliss to finally be free. Musa wanted to keep her eyes and mind open; and that was the way Tecna planned to keep it for her.

"I'm sorry Icy but I can't help you," Tecna gulped, "I made a promise," Tecna bit her lip. This time Icy bared her teeth not into a crooked smile; but into an almost animal like gesture. Tecna sat strongly in her seat; she wasn't going to be afraid of this Witch.

Icy leaned toward the ugly pixie, "Well Tecna, I too will make a promise to you," she gave the slightest chuckle that sent a shiver up Tecna's spine, "Until you help us to the best of your capabilities, you will never become an Enchantix fairy. Now...what do you say to that?"

Tecna gulped and thought about two promises that were at her disposal. One was from her best friend Stella, and she promised she would become an Enchantix fairy so they could go back to being the way they once were. Then was her other promise; she promised Musa she would never tell anyone about Timmy, or any facts about her running away. Someone's promise was going to be broken, "I don't know what to say..."

"Just ignore your little pixie promises for a minute...and let's just think about Musa's safety," Icy replied calmly, "Do you think she's safe out there in the wild? Don't you think she might have gotten tricked? Don't you think she might be hoping you'll find her and bring her home? All of the runaways got tricked Tecna...and it's our duty to bring them to safety." Icy paused, "And do you honestly want to be ugly for life? Do you want to live your life as an outcast of society for the rest of your life? Stella wouldn't appreciate it now, would she?"

"Okay, you've made your point. It's not like I have a choice here..." Tecna sighed in defeat.

"You've always had a choice Tecna, and this is _your _choice," Icy smirked proudly.

"Okay okay...I'll help you and answer anymore questions you have. Just get to the point so we can get this over with," Tecna bit her lip and shut her eyes.

Icy cleared her throat, "Did you ever meet anyone outside the city?"

Tecna knew where Icy was directing her questions, "I never did...but Musa did. She met up with some guy named Timmy who was going to bring her to Domino," Tecna felt her heart beat rapid fast. She thought it might jump out of her chest.

"Ah, the infamous Timmy," Icy leaned back in her chair in satisfaction, "And the even more infamous Domino. Did she ever tell you where it was located?"

"No, but she left me this not-" Without hesitation Icy flashed a 3D copy of the note in front of her. Icy smiled wickedly, "How did you...?" Tecna decided to not ask the question, she didn't want to question who else could be in the dimly lit room who managed to search her bag quietly and copy the note.

"This cryptic note appears to only be able to be deciphered by...you possibly?" Tecna only shook her head no, meaning she too didn't know what the note said, "Well, either way you can still help us Ms. Tecna..." Icy reached behind her and pulled out a backpack identical to the one Musa had before she left for good.

"Hey...that's a survival kit like Musa had!" Tecna exclaimed.

"Did she have anything else with her?"

"She had dehydrated food packages...enough food for two weeks for one person," Suddenly Icy pulled a couple out of the survival bag, "And a hover board...a special one meant for long distance."

"Ah yes...what is it about you pixies and those hover boards...?" Icy pondered, "I think you might just make it Tecna."

"You mean...I'm going to Domino? But why me...I don't understand the note, and you promised you would make me a fairy if I help you, and I answered all your questions!"

"I said I would make you a fairy if you helped us to the best of your ability, and I believe you can make this journey," her voice cut like razors, "Tecna, this isn't the first time we've heard about Timmy and Domino. And whenever we go out with hovercars to the said waterfall in the last line of the note, we find nothing. So that's why we have to send you...alone. It'll keep things less suspicious."

"What do you expect me to say to Musa and the others if I find them? It all seems so illogical."

Icy grinned, "Just tell them you had a change of heart and wanted to escape the operation...shouldn't be that hard."

"And what am I supposed to do if I find this mysterious city?" Suddenly Icy pulled out a small heart shaped locket. She pressed it and it clicked open and slid it across the table towards Tecna. She looked at the opened locket and it shot a bright beam of light, "Ow-what was that for?"

"It's a sensor...It will only read your eye print. Press it when you're in Domino and we'll be out within a couple hours," she replied coldly.

"I can't do this Dr. Icy...I've never spent a single night outside the city...alone," Tecna pleaded.

"You must Tecna...You must help us," Icy stared at her and ignored her pleads, "But if you don't, I promise you will remain this ugly forever. You will spend life as an outcast, is that really what you want?" Icy grinned. Tecna knew it was coming down to this, infiltrate Domino and betray Musa, or stay an ugly pixie for life.

"I need time to think...This is all so illogical," Tecna trailed off. Icy pulled up a wall screen showing Tecna at the age of about thirty; looking identical to the way she looked now. She had more bags under her eyes and her hair was twice as frizzy and she was showing extreme signs of age. Her skin imperfections and odd shaped face looked the same too.

"This will be you Tecna, I promise."

"Please...turn it off," Tecna pleaded to the Witch. She couldn't stand seeing herself that ugly.

"Decide Tecna." There was an eerie silence between them as Icy tapped her fingernails impatiently on the table, "I can always get someone else to do this mission for me, and you'll remain like this, forever."

"Okay, I'll help you. Just please turn off the screen..." Tecna bowed her head in defeat.

Icy chuckled and the screen shut off.

**Dr. Icy? It sounds so strange but whatever... I want to make this next update as soon as I can, but exams are coming and I should be thinking about studying.**


	8. Chapter 8: The Adventure Begins

**Just taking a break between exam studying!**

**As a message to MusicalNerdyGirl: I do plan on winxifying the trilogy (Uglies, Pretties, and Specials). I'm even already planning ahead for these books *giggles* and how I'll be writing them, but I do not believe I will end up doing the 4****th**** book, Extras. Even though I **_**loved **_**that book, I'm finding it hard to figure out how to winxify it considering the story was kind of confusing.**

**Anyway I'll continue onto the story :) thank you all for the reviews. Don't forget to favourite this story, brings me encouragement to write.**

**One final authors note; there is barely any talking in this chapter. Why? Well Tec is by herself for the next chapter. On top of that, in Scott Westerfeld's book he has the main character and her travels detailing over at least 7 chapters, and on mine I'm compressing them into about one. It's honestly not that interesting to write about it.**

Chapter 8: The Adventure Begins

Tecna left late that following night. Before leaving Special Circumstances headquarters earlier that day she was warned about not telling anyone about the mission, not even Stella who she was technically doing this all for. After all; completing this mission would turn her into a fairy, and would then bring her friendship with Stella back to the way it was supposed to be. This process was keeping order to the city of Magix; she wasn't doing anything really bad, was she? After all, Musa was most likely in danger from what Icy told her.

She took one more glance at her dorm room before sneaking out her window. It was a bittersweet moment seeing her ugly dorm for the last time ever. She remembered during her first few months at Alfea that she would never leave the room at night to sneak out into town. However, she grew more aware of how easy it was to sneak out that soon she found herself barely in her room at all. Even with that being the case; she and Stella had a lot of memories in her dorm. She only wished her life could go back to being like that; before things got complicated with the Witches and Musa. Before leaving she threw on her uniform jogging pants and matching sweatshirt.

Tecna leaped from her window and landed swiftly on the damp ground. The ground squished below her running shoes as she walked toward the river. Icy told her as she left her headquarters that her supplies would be waiting for her in the bushes near the river. Her supplies included a survival kit identical to the one Musa had, and a special hover board just like she requested.

A moment later she found her gear. She reached down and grabbed the backpack with her survival gear and slung it over her shoulders. Tecna grabbed the pair of crash bracelets at her disposal in front of her and let them mold to her wrist shape. She snapped her fingers and the hover board floated below her feet. Unlike her hover board she used when with Musa; this one was much larger and sturdier than her old one, and this one remained as stable as if standing on the ground, "You have to give Icy credit; she knows how to get her supplies." Tecna quickly silenced herself; she was not about to start talking to herself. She was almost positive she would be driven to illogical lengths if she was going to be alone for the next unknown period of time with no other human being to talk to.

She didn't waste any more time and she threw on her hood. She hovered her way across the dimly moon-lit river towards Gardenia. She wondered as she made her way how Musa was doing and how she was with Timmy. She pondered whether Musa knew Timmy was a wanted man in the city, and that the Witches wanted nothing more than to get their hands on him. She didn't blame them for wanting this boy so much; he was tricking ugly pixies to abandon friends and family for a surpassingly better life in Domino. She knew she was going to enjoy seeing this Timmy character for the first time; to judge his true character. The way Musa talked about him, she wondered if she had a crush on him.

Finally after a good fifteen minutes of super fast hover boarding she made it into the abandoned ruins of Gardenia. She read the first line of Musa's note in her head; she had it memorized down pat: "_Take the coaster straight past the gap, until you find one that's long and flat." _Tecna started heading in the direction of the roller coaster that she could barely see the silhouette of. She made her way up to the top of the coaster and she gazed down at the rest of the track and spotted the huge gap in the track; a big enough gap she knew she wouldn't be able to make it on her board.

She referred back to the note, "It says straight past the gap...Musa must want me to jump over..." She shrugged and decided to risk it. If anything bad happened she had the ability to call the Witches at Special Circumstances who would come get her. She took a deep breath and gave herself a little momentum to zoom down the rest of the track. She knew she was going down at incredible speeds but she kept having this bad feeling in her stomach as she approached the gap. She flew over the edge and immediately realized she wasn't going to make it across. She fell into the unknown darkness until at the last second her crash bracelets roughly pulled at her wrists and her board floated underneath as it helped break her fall. She still fell somewhat roughly into a tall pile of reeds.

"Well that was a stupid idea Musa..." Tecna slowly got up and rubbed her painful wrists. She was surprised they didn't end up breaking due to her crash bracelets. She remembered Musa's warning a long time ago about hover boarding and crash bracelets: _too rough of a fall and these things will pull your arm out of its sockets y'know?_ She scanned the reeds looking for where her hover board landed after her short fall, "Why would she send me a clue that could have got me..." She trailed off as she spotted something in the dense reeds. She pushed her way through them to see her board gently floating over another set of tracks. These tracks were very different from the roller coaster ones just above.

These one's were completely flat and stretched as far as the eye could see. They followed alongside the river heading out towards the sea. She gazed to her left to discover an extremely run down building with the words Gardenia Express barely visible. Tecna finally understood what she was looking at; the remains of train tracks from the Dark Days. It only took her a minute to clue into how her hover board remained floating on the tracks; the infamous Timmy placed magic grids underneath as a faster way to steal pixie runaways.

She remembered the next line in her cryptic note was talking about the ocean; so taking the railway towards the ocean was defiantly the way to go. She wondered if the rest of Musa's note would be this easy to figure out. However, she really doubted it would ever be this easy again. Musa had a way of making things super complicated when you least expected it. She hopped back on her hover board and rode endlessly and effortlessly along the abandoned train tracks all night long.

By the time dawn arrived Tecna decided to make small camp. She hovered off to the side and rolled out her sleeping bag and took out her water purifier and dehydrated food and had a quick meal of some sort of "spinach surprise". She admitted the food wasn't half bad, and it was actually pretty tasty. She curled up in the shade of the tree in her sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep for the rest of the day. She figured her best option on this trip would be to travel at night.

As she travelled along she saw many city ruins just like Gardenia. It caused her pain to see all these different ruins; and being reminded by just how many people died in almost an instant. It may have happened centuries ago, but the remains and destruction from the Dark Days would remain as an imprint forever for centuries to come.

The following night after travelling for a good couple hours, she came to a fork in the tracks. One path led up into the mountains and the other set of tracks continued to follow along the sea. She remembered the note telling her _correct is the sea _so she made the obvious choice to take the tracks going along the coastline. She was really confused as she hovered along thinking about the next clue, _watch for fire bug eyes. _She wondered if she should be looking for some sort of glowing bug, or something that resembled eyes of a bug, or something that resembled fire. From this point on she was determined to stay focused on all her surroundings.

An hour later she decided to take a small break to take in her surroundings. This was the first time she had cool water wash over her feet. The water felt clean over her filthy feet and it finally brought pleasure to this whole ordeal. She wondered if after her adventure if she would ever see the ocean again. Suddenly it appeared as though hundreds of tiny little lights seemed to illuminate her surroundings. Upon closer inspection Tecna noticed they were tiny little bugs that appeared to be glowing like fire.

"Wait a minute..." Tecna gasped. She wondered if these were the fire bug eyes Musa was referring to. She walked as calmly as she could and avoided running into any of them and gathered all her stuff together. Suddenly a few landed on her and the spots that they landed caused her skin to burn badly. She knew these were what Musa was talking about. She rushed as fast as she could on her hover board through the mess but her skin continued to burn with every little bug she ran into.

She wondered where they all suddenly appeared from. She remembered learning about them briefly in school, and these little insects were mutations from the Dark Days that managed to survive the harsh climate then, and have now become a new species of super bug that would never die out. Tecna wondered if a nuclear war would wipe them out for good.

She stumbled more on her board as her burns got more severe. She knew she had to find a way out of the swarm or else she knew for sure that she was going to collapse from the pain soon; and she would indeed die from the burn intensity. Finally she hovered more along the tracks and the swarm soon disappeared behind her. She stumbled along quickly for another ten minutes until she was positive the swarm was way behind her. She found a quiet little space between clusters of trees and went through her survival bag for some sort of lotion to heal the pain. She found a little bit buried in her bag and she rubbed it on her excruciating burns before passing out in her sleeping bag.

The next couple days were some of the most drawn out and painful for Tecna. Her burns from the encounter with the bugs never seemed to heal, and now she was forced to live with the pain until she reached Domino. On top of that she was wondering if she took a wrong turn at some point in her journey; there wasn't anything resembling the next line of Musa's clue: _Take the side you most despise. _She wondered if it meant taking a dark and scary side path, or if she was going to make another encounter with the fire bugs. Musa really wasn't making things specific.

As she knocked herself back into reality she finally spotted the next clue Musa was referring to. Ahead of her the tracks branched off into two more directions; one kept following the ocean for miles and miles through bright green grass and beautiful scenic trees, but the other path led inland and slowly evolved into a rock wasteland that wasn't showing any life at all. She squinted to get a better look in the distance to see a waterfall barely visible in the far off distance. Tecna knew she wouldn't reach the waterfall for hours, but she had this feeling that it was the correct way to go.

Domino was almost in her grasps.

She turned her board to follow the inland tracks. Tecna observed the barren world around her. She wondered if this desert like area used to be as lush and green as the path that followed the ocean. Seeing as though the Warrior fairies managed to destroy so much of the planet; she figured this barren wasteland was their fault.

By sunset she finally reached the base of the magnificent waterfall. The water flowed down from the top of the cliff that had to be at least fifty stories high. She then looked around to spot no life whatsoever and not a single hint at civilization. Tecna couldn't help but think that the city was way above her, but she knew a secret city like Domino could never be hidden so high...or could it?

She made quick camp on the rough terrain beside the cliff base. She had another meal of her dehydrated food. She sat in her sleeping bag and sat in an almost peaceful mood as she thought about her journey. She practically made the trip all the way to Domino by herself; it was something she never expected her to ever do. She couldn't wait for it to be morning; she knew she would be face to face with Musa again, and with the infamous Timmy of Domino.

She had almost forgotten about her reason for being out here. She clenched the closed heart shaped locket around her neck. Tecna couldn't believe she was so close to getting inside the city, but she had to question whether she was going to press it right away...or if she was going to at least wait before sending the witches out to destroy Domino. The decisions haunted Tecna's head as she tried to fall asleep, but every time she fell asleep she kept imagining Icy staring at her with her wolf-like eyes, and Musa standing with her. She dreamed she was in a desolate room with Icy on her left and Musa on her right.

Musa was the first to speak, "Tecna...you promised me. Don't destroy the only refuge away from the torturous Witches! Please..." Tears filled the imaginary Musa's eyes, "This is my true home."

Tecna clenched the locket around her neck as Icy spoke in her hissed voice, "You know what you must do Tecna...Musa's been brainwashed by Timmy. Press the locket and we'll be sure Timmy will never trick another young pixie again. You know how long we've wanted to put an end to him..."

"She's lying Frizzy!" Musa was practically shouting at her, "He hasn't been tricking us, he's been _saving _us!" Hearing the word saving, Tecna shuttered. She didn't have the fondest idea how he could be saving the pixies. "You have to believe me!"

Icy's cold and emotionless voice spoke for one last time, "We will track you down Tecna, track you down and keep you ugly if you oppose against us. I always get what I want."

"Do what's right," both Icy and Musa said in unison in her mind. Tecna sweated and jumped around in her sleep. She didn't know what to do anymore, what could her dream mean? Was she really subconsciously thinking about backing out of Icy's deal?

**I'm not going to lie at all, I really hate this chapter. It's so hard to make it interesting to read from one person who doesn't talk much. Although you all should be excited, Timmy will finally be introduced in the next chapter. I've been waiting to include him, and now I finally will be able to. Hopefully next update will be right after exams.**


	9. Chapter 9: A New Home

Chapter 9: A New Home

Tecna sat crossed-legged on some flat rocks just near the water's edge. The sun was just creeping over the horizon and brought a salmon pink sky over her world. She sat as patiently as she could, but she worried they would never come. What would she do if they never did show up? Her only real way home was to betray her friend, and she would stay ugly if she didn't find Domino. The situation was driving her up the wall.

Suddenly a sound entered her eardrums that made her cringe. It was the sound of rocks crumbling and separating. She looked at the direction of the waterfall to notice a small tunnel emerge from just behind the water and was barely visible at all. Tecna noticed a ledge led all the way along behind the waterfall. From where the small opening appeared; four figures quietly stepped out. She couldn't really get a good look; but two were males and two were females.

The one with the short navy pigtails and skinny figured broke out from the group and ran towards her squealing, "Tecna? Oh my...I can't believe you're here...you made the journey," Musa panted and hugged her friend very tightly, "No one believed me when I said you'd come...but here you are," suddenly Musa turned around to face the other three figures who appeared to be waiting for a signal, "Hey guy's it's cool! Come over here," she hollered cheerfully.

As Musa pulled away from her friend, Tecna finally got a good look at her. Musa's skin was turning a rosy pink from being outside so much, and she ditched her Alfea uniform for heavy looking boots with a red hoodie and baggy pants. Musa's outfit meant she was outside a lot; and working a lot too.

"I almost didn't make it...thanks to your one clue," Tecna brought attention to her peeling and burnt skin, and her scorched hair and clothes "But it was easy enough to get here I guess."

"Oh my...what happened? You look as though you've passed through a war zone or something?" Musa suddenly paused and clued in, "Oh right...fire bug eyes..." She trailed off, "Don't worry; we'll get you new clothes once we get to Domino and...We'll fix you up," Musa panted. "Anyway, I want you to meet a couple people before I get carried away..."

Musa eagerly called them to get closer, but a boy with dark purple hair extended his arms so the other boy and girl had to halt, "Stop...She's got a tracker," his eyes narrowed on her as he pulled out a thick black rod with a green screen on it. The boy was very bulky and covered in dirt. He had small eyes and a narrow complexion, and his hair was spiky and dark purple. He almost resembled a witch; but not as frightening. She assumed he was one of Musa's friends who ran away to escape the operation.

Tecna gulped, his sensor must have gone off from her locket Icy gave her. This was it, they would know the truth and she didn't even get a chance to witness Domino firsthand. He continued to speak, he pointed at her hover board that was lying on the ground at her feet, "It's on her hover board." She let out a quiet sigh of relief, her necklace wasn't activated...he couldn't tell if it was a tracker...yet.

"Wait...I had no idea there was..." Tecna pleaded as the strong boy picked up her hover board and opened up into its mainframe. He took out a small green chip and silently handed it to the other girl in the group. "I honestly had no clue..."

Musa laughed, "Its _fine _Frizzy. The Witches have all of these long-term boards tracked, you couldn't have known." Tecna gave a sigh of relief.

"I still don't trust her," the dark purple haired boy kept frowning at her.

"Oh stop it Riven," Musa punched him in the shoulder, "I had a tracker on my board too, and don't be so cautious around Tec...She's on our side. That's _why _she's here." Musa turned her attention to the girl who was holding the tracker, "You know what to do Flora."

Tecna watched the shy and timid girl make a small whistle sound and a little bird flew over and perched on her finger. She carefully clipped the tracker on, "Fly away little bird," her sweet voice told the little bird and it flew off towards the direction of the ocean. Flora smiled at Tecna. To Tecna, the girl seemed right at home in nature and outside. She had brittle light brown hair splitting off into thousands of split ends. She had small lips but very large eyes and her skin was tanned from the sun. She wore hiking boots with a flowered spaghetti strapped dress. She had a backpack slung over her shoulders.

"So if you haven't guessed yet...this is Flora and Riven. These two ran away when I backed out..." she gave a slight chuckle, "And over there," Musa pointed to the timid boy keeping his distance from her, "Is Timmy."

The boy smiled sheepishly at Tecna. He wasn't some creepy guy that Icy made him off to be, he was a regular, shy guy. He had small hazel eyes bound back by a pair of red rimmed glasses. He had hair that was an odd light brown-orange colour and it dropped down to one side. He had a slim face with a small nose, and Tecna couldn't help that the way he smiled looked kind of awkward. Timmy was wearing a light green and orange sweater with baggy pants and he was holding some mysterious device in his hands.

"Guys we better go back," he checked his device, "I'm sensing some sort of life coming in about a mile from here from due-West..." They all didn't spare a second and ran towards the cave entrance with Tecna in tow. As soon as she stepped inside everyone pulled out a flashlight and Timmy closed the secret entrance behind them.

Tecna stood there dumbfounded, "So Domino is underground then?" The rest of the group burst out into laughter. She didn't understand what was so funny.

Musa put her arm around Tecna's shoulders, "It's kind of a long story so I'll explain on the way."

XxxxxXXXXXXxXXxxxxx

Tecna learned a lot from Musa within those twenty minutes walking in the tunnels. She learned that these tunnels led all the way through the cliffside to Domino which lay directly on the other side. She was told that everyone lived in cabins and lived simple lifestyles that appeared to be like camping. Typical chores would consist of hunting, gathering, and farming. However, Tecna learned that the lifestyle in Domino wasn't as primitive as she thought and Timmy was the one who developed most of the simple technology that made life possible. She had to admit she was fascinated by his ability to create inventions from scrap parts.

"So Tecna, tell me...what changed your mind?" Musa questioned her as the group continued down the tunnels, "I really wasn't expecting you to ever come.

Tecna paused and remembered what Icy said to tell them, "I had a change of heart...I realized once you left that you were being serious about running away, and something in me clicked and it finally seemed you were doing something logical for once," she joked. The group joined in laughter and gave her approving smiles and nods; well except for Riven. "So how much farther do we need to walk?" She questioned the group as they cornered a dead end. Without another word Timmy handed her his flashlight and he walked ahead of the group. He appeared to press a hidden button in the wall and a portion of the wall opened to reveal a blinding light.

Musa gave her a small grin, "Tecna...welcome to your _real _home."

As soon as she stepped out and gained her vision she gazed at the town ahead of her. It was only composed of a hundred or so cabins. As they walked toward the center of the town she saw many people bustling around cutting down trees and cooking around fires. It didn't bother Tecna to see this new type of culture; it was all the ugly people that caused her to become nauseous. She didn't like seeing people sprouting signs of age; this wasn't how society was supposed to be. Society needed to be full of beautiful people; and not this array of ugly outcasts. Why did this city only house uglies?

She stared up into the sky to avoid looking at the people around her, and she suddenly noticed the sky flicker as if it was a computer screen.

"Impressive huh?" Timmy asked her quietly, "It took countless weeks to create, but I think I have perfected it so there isn't any flaws whatsoever..." He trailed off.

"I don't really understand what you've created...Is it a giant wall screen?"

Timmy laughed, "I've been able to manipulate magic and technology to project this shield around the city. We can see everything outside the shield..."

"But no one can see in," Tecna clued in, "So in a way...we're invisible...clever." She smiled, "I am very impressed."

XxXXxxXXxx

The quiet Flora brought Tecna to their cabin to drop off all her gear, get washed up and dressed in suitable gear. She treated her burns as best as they could and dressed her in a purple and green shirt and purple shorts with hiking boots. Finally she handed her a purple visor.

"Feels nice to finally be free huh?"Flora sprawled out on her bed as Tecna gave her an approving nod. The room consisted of a simple dresser, a window, a set of bunk beds and a singular bed by itself. Musa and Tecna got the bunks while Flora got the full bed to herself.

"Anyway thanks for the spare clothes Flora. These clothes are surprisingly comfy," she smiled, but suddenly changed her face into a more serious one. She had to ask Flora something that was bothering her, "So why does Riven hate me?"

Flora laughed, "He doesn't hate you, he's just bitter in general..."

"Bitter about what?"

"Like all of us he's bitter about society and the Witches...but he just takes it to extremes I guess. He's still upset that some of our friends backed out long ago to undergo the operation," Flora replied softly, "I for one do not hold a grudge against my friends who became fairies instead. It was their decision to live in Magix; and mine is to be out in nature and live in Domino. We all have to accept the decisions people make in life."

"Logical words," Tecna sighed as the two of them left the cabin to find Domino nearly deserted, "Where is everyone?"

"I'm guessing everyone is down at the Mess Hall eating lunch. Once the bells go off everyone will go back to work on schedule," she shrugged. Tecna suddenly felt fear and panic; she knew hundreds of the ugly people of Domino would swarm out like bees and surround her in every direction. She didn't like the idea and wasn't used to being surrounded by the assortment of people with unbelievable faces.

Suddenly the bells went off and hundreds of people swarmed out to return to daily business, "Are you alright Tecna? You don't look so well...You're sweating like crazy..." Flora asked.

"I...um, I don't feel comfortable...I need..." Tecna panted, "Some space..." She found herself pushing and shoving her way through the complete strangers and running off deep into the deserted woods. She didn't know where she was going; it just needed to be far away. She only looked over her shoulders as she ran as fast as her legs would carry her away from Domino. She didn't know why she didn't send her signal to Icy yet, but once she was alone she guaranteed herself that she was going to infiltrate the city.

Suddenly out of nowhere she felt her body collide with someone. She and the figure roughly landed on the ground and Tecna felt her head smack off the ground. She felt her body and mind start to slip into unconsciousness as the mysterious figure stumbled to its feet and went to her aid.

"Tecna...what are you doing out here in the woods?" Tecna knew who the voice belonged to; Timmy. Many questions went through her slewed mind, what was _he _doing deep in the woods away from everyone? "Oh my...look at that gash on your head..."

"I...I had to get away..." She stuttered to tell him. The last thing she remembered was a pair of strong and warm arms pick her up and carry her to safety. She only wished to gain enough consciousness to contact Icy to end this horrific nightmare.


	10. Chapter 10: A New Perspective

**To any fellow Canadians out there, I wish you all a Happy Canada Day weekend.**

Chapter 10: A New Perspective

She awoke a while later to find someone pressing a cold and damp cloth to her aching headache. Her vision was still blurry so she couldn't make out her entire surroundings; but the one thing she made out was her caretaker Timmy who smiled at her as she stared up blankly at him. The look in his eyes showed a sense of youth; yet it showed a sense of leadership and wisdom.

"Wh...Where am I?" she stuttered and tried to get up but Timmy lightly pressed her back down onto a comfy bed that she was laying on.

"Shhhh...You're safe now. You need to rest," he stared at her through his hazel eyes that gleamed with happiness. "That was quite a tumble you had."

"No thanks to you," she joked and rolled her eyes. Her vision finally cleared up and she gazed at her surroundings. She was in a clean and sleek metal looking room that was dimly lit by a few small windows. Along all four walls lined as assortment of tools and along each wall was a workbench covered in scrap parts and mysterious items. She made a logical assumption that this was where Timmy did his inventing and creating. It was a fascinating room that made Tecna wish to remain here and discover everything Timmy was capable of. "So is this where you do your inventing? I'm very curious."

"Why yes, yes it is. I don't know if you know this, but you should feel honoured to be here; I don't allow anyone in here," he smirked at her. "Mainly because no one knows where it is. If you were wondering why I was deep out in the woods, it was because my inventing studio is located out here."

"Sounds like you get a lot of privacy."

Timmy swiveled away on an old chair with wheels to remoisten her cloth, "There needs to be if you're doing as much focused work as I am. Plus it's a great place to sleep every night," he swiveled back with another cold cloth, "Right now I'm working on ways to bring more reliable energy to Domino," he pointed across the room at a solar panel, "If I can make enough of these to put on every building in town, then I can create more gadgets that can be placed in everyone's rooms."

"Sounds like a lot of work for one person..."

"That's the problem with everyone here in Domino; they only know how to use technology, _not _how to create it," he sighed. "Musa tries to show interest and capability in this stuff...but she doesn't really know what she's doing."

"Well..." Tecna bit her lip eagerly, "I happen to know my way around a microprocessor or two. If you need a hand I'd love to get hands-on with all your gadgets." She tried to hide her eagerness but found she couldn't.

"I'd love the help Tec. But how about after you feel a bit better?" He smiled at her. "So what were you doing fleeing through the woods? Not many people would venture out of the city; especially people new to Domino." He pressed the damp cloth lightly on her forehead.

She smiled up at him but suddenly she gave him a more serious expression. She wondered if she could trust this boy with what was bothering her, "I just haven't gotten use to the fact that everyone here is...well...ugly and haven't undergone the operation. Domino is just so different than anything else I've ever experienced and I kind of panicked. I'm still struggling to cope with all of this." She couldn't admit to him that she wasn't used to seeing so many ugly people who were actually _happy_.

"Well I'm glad you take all of this seriously Tec. Too many young runaways come here expecting this place to be all 'sugarplums and easy'. I like that you finally see what it really is like out here; it's a tough lifestyle that many people oversee."

"I'm sure you felt like this when you first came to Domino right?" Tecna still felt ashamed that she ran off in a panic just because the people here looked different. She was stupid to be so worked up on people's looks. She didn't understand why it mattered so much on how a person looked...it was as if she was programmed to detest people who weren't pretty.

Timmy merely chuckled. He pulled off his red rimmed glasses to clean them off, "No Tecna...It's different for me. I have this feeling Musa didn't tell you everything about me...You see..." He placed his glasses back on the arch of his nose, "I was born here in Domino. I've never actually been inside another city before," he paused to let Tecna take in this new info, "My parents were runaways, not me."

"By that logic...your parents founded Domino?"

"Yup."

"And that makes you the only official citizen?"

"Yup."

"How did your parents manage without any...doctors?" Tecna questioned.

"They _are _doctors Tecna," he smiled.

"I'm confused...they had to have been pretty old to run away if they were doctors," Tecna thought about the situation, "So...that means they're pretty, right?" She tried to remember looking at the people in Domino; she didn't remember seeing any fairies...or pretty people for that matter.

"Not anymore," Timmy took a deep breath, "They reversed the operation so they would look old...aged...It's a long and complicated story." She felt she was going to be sick; this was way too much information to take in within a few minutes. Timmy helped her sit up, "They did it safely Tecna...they are doctors after all." Silence broke out between the two as Tecna couldn't find the ability to say anything, "I'm-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you all of this..."

"No, it's fine...So why did your parents run away in the first place?"

"Umm...I think that's enough information to tell you for now," he helped her to her feet, "Besides it's getting dark and I think we should go back into town." The two left Timmy's hide-away side by side. Tecna felt her locket around her neck weighed more and more as the moments passed while they walked; it was holding a heavier burden as she got a new perspective on things.

One perspective was from Icy's point of view. Domino was an evil city bent on stealing runaways from the cities across the area to outthink the operation and to avoid living in Magix. From Icy's view Timmy was an evil mastermind who kidnapped ugly pixies to bring them to this strange city to help it thrive against the Witches. To Icy it was used to cause suspicion and controversy in Magix and to her organization of Witches. It ruined order that they were trying to keep. Domino was a city that had to be brought down. This option had her becoming beautiful and a fairy, and of course with Stella again. But what would happen to Musa, Timmy, Riven, Flora, and anyone else that live in Domino?

Her new perspective was one Timmy gave her. This city provided relief and the only possible freedom away from Special Circumstances and the Witches; Domino was a sanctuary that needed to thrive. From learning that Timmy's real home was Domino, she realized that this city wasn't just a runaway camp; it was a home. By infiltrating the city she would strip Timmy's life away, and his only home would be taken away forever. This option had her staying this ugly; and eventually showing signs of age like everyone else.

Tecna knew the more she waited; the harder it would be to make a decision. She had to make up her mind soon, or else she wouldn't be able to make up her mind at all.

XxxxxXXXXXXxXXxxxxx

"So where have you been?" Musa asked Tecna as she walked in the cabin door, "Flora said you ran off in a panic at lunch..." Tecna gazed around the room to notice it was just her and Musa in the cabin; Flora wasn't there.

"It was just a big culture shock," Tecna sat on the edge of Flora's bed with Musa, "Then I kind of...literally...ran into Timmy and we kind of had a big tumble," she parted her bang to reveal the mark, "I woke up in his inventing workshop and he aided me until I was strong enough to stand on my own two feet."

"Ah..." Musa trailed off, "So I've been meaning to ask you something..." Tecna's body stiffened up with nervousness, "It's about your heart shaped locket..." Tecna felt her mouth drop; there was no way Musa could know...she couldn't have figured it out...

"Wh-what about it?" she felt her mouth go dry.

"Why haven't I seen it before?" Musa raised an eyebrow.

"It's been hidden under my uniform...that's why you never saw," Tecna quickly replied with an excuse.

"I figured. But I think I've figured out _who _gave it to you. I think you've lied to me about Stella...she was never a she..." Musa winked briefly, "That night when you went to Solaria Mansion and pulled the fire alarm...you were actually there to see a boy, right?"

Tecna nodded and decided to go with what Musa was assuming; it was easier than telling the truth.

"And...you kept the locket with you now because...he might be coming to Domino. Is that it? Did you break my promise and told this boy about your running away plan?"

"I...umm...ummmmmm."

"Look, I don't care if you told him...really. It's just..." Musa looked at Tecna straight in the eyes, "I think Timmy likes you. Ever since he saw you by the waterfall...he's had this _look _in his eyes. So I'm just saying you better tell Timmy about the locket and your special someone," Musa told her in a very serious tone. "To clear up the air..."

"I will...I promise I will," she gulped nervously. There was no way he felt that way about her; she was hideously ugly and there was no way he could fall for her that easily, there was no way.

"Oh and there's another thing I wanted to say..." Musa said softly and timidly. Suddenly she brought Tecna into an unexpected hug. She felt tears run down her back from Musa crying, "I'm glad you came out to Domino. I don't how I would feel right now knowing you went under the knife..."

Tecna fought at the guilt that was eating away at her stomach, "Yeah...I'm glad I came too," she spat out.

She wished she could turn back time to when she first arrived in the city. She could have avoided all this guilt and betrayal that was eating her alive currently. But of course time travel didn't exist; and now she was stuck making one of the worst decisions of her life. She knew Icy wouldn't be patient for long, and she knew she wouldn't be able to live with such guilt for so long either.


	11. Chapter 11: Ugly Truth about Prettiness

**Wow, this chapter is UBER long...longest one yet and I think one of the most suspenseful. Enjoy!**

Chapter 11: An Ugly Truth about Prettiness

She spent the next couple days trying to decide what to do with her pendant. She could click it and that would be the end of Domino and her troubles, or she could bury it deep in the woods and never think about it again, and that too would be an end to her troubles.

Tecna was relieved when she and Timmy got to go to his inventing shop and play with all his gadgets. As the days passed she felt a stronger connection and bond with the boy; but she could never like him, even if he may or may not like her back. In Tecna's city love could never really exist between two...ugly people. I mean it did exist, but it was silly love that never lasted. True love could only exist in the eyes of two gorgeous people. She and Timmy were not.

"So Tec, I've been meaning to ask you something," he asked her out of the blue while the two were in his workshop, "I know it might not be any of my business but...I've been meaning to ask about that locket," he grasped in gently in his hands and let it dance between his fingertips, "I mean it looks very expensive."

"It's just..." Tecna snatched it away from his hands before he could press something and she shoved it under her shirt, "Someone...from the city."

"I figured," he paused, "Is he coming out to Domino?" He looked at her with solemn eyes.

"Maybe," Tecna bit her lip. She went back to her lie she told Musa, "I'm sorry I told someone about Domino." She felt she was digging herself into an even deeper whole. By this point she figured the hole she was digging herself was equivalent to the depth of the Witches headquarters.

"It's fine," he leaned back in his chair and stretched out his arms, "It's not like you promised _me _that you weren't going to tell anyone."He continued to smile.

"But I still...I shouldn't have said a thing," she buried her face in her hands.

He sighed softly in her ear that sent a small shiver up her spine, "Listen, It really doesn't bother me that you told someone. You gave up a lot to be here: friends, home, a life in Magix. You should be proud Tecna, you're the first person ever to make it out to Domino without me guiding them, and with only a note at your disposal for directions. But I can tell you're actually starting to get used to the lifestyle in Domino."

"But Timmy..." She turned to face him. It pained her to say anymore, "I might not be staying."

"I know...Your someone might not show up and you'll want to go back," he trailed off, "But in the meantime, I want you to do something for me..." He stood up and extended his hands toward hers to help her stand, "I want you to come meet my parents."

She wondered if Timmy had really grown onto her and he wanted to show her off to his parents, or if this was some sort of custom in Domino. Either way this whole ordeal gave Tecna goose bumps, but she couldn't refuse Timmy's request; after all, she was an infiltrating spy and this was the least she could do.

Without another word he helped her to her feet and he briskly led her deeper in the forest along a barely visible trail, "So wait, your parents live outside the city?" She stumbled over roots and shrubs while Timmy swiftly avoided them like he walked this path a thousand times.

He gave her a serious look as they jogged faster, "It's too dangerous for them to be in Domino." This left Tecna stunned; how could it be too dangerous to live in such a secret city? Why would they need to hide out like criminals? "You'll understand soon enough."

Five minutes later the dense trees and brush cleared briefly to reveal a very vintage log cabin. Smoke was pouring out of the chimney and many lights were on inside that could be seen blurred through shaded curtains. The building definitely showed signs of life.

As they approached the door Timmy gave a very distinct knock at the door and his mother opened the door with a big smile on her face. With the light at the woman's back, Tecna couldn't get a good look at her appearance, "Timothy, is that you? Fritz, Timothy is here!" Her face turned to Tecna, "And you must be Tecna?" She ushered the two of them inside as if they were being followed and she gave them both warm smiles.

Tecna finally got a good look at Timmy's mother. She had to be in her early fifties with her starting signs of wrinkles and slightly sagging skin. She had identical hazel eyes to Timmy's, and her hair was a light brown with the occasional grey hair or two. She showed the same crooked-like smile Timmy had; it definitely showed they were related.

Suddenly an older gentleman came out from a back room; he looked identical to Timmy. They shared similar facial structures and glasses. However, his father had fully grey hair, his skin was too showing signs of age, and he had a shorter hair, "Well Tammy, put some tea on for our guests." Tecna thought he too had to be around fifty years old like his wife.

Tecna briefly scanned the inside of the very small dwelling. The walls and floors were entirely wood, and looked to be very worn down after years of activity in the house. The room included a very small kitchenette in the corner of the room including a fridge, stove, sink, and a few counters and cabinets. Near the kitchenette was a small dining table with two wooden and worn down chairs. Across the room was two cushioned chairs and a cushion loveseat seated around a stone fireplace. She assumed the two doors at the back on the room went to a bedroom and a bathroom. The thing that was strange about Fritz's and Tammy's house was the fact that along the back wall lined filing cabinets overflowing with suspicious looking documents. She only wondered what information could be hidden inside.

She brought them to all sit around on chairs around the fireplace. Tammy brought out a tray with four cups of steaming hot tea. The tea was quickly distributed between all four of them. She took a sip of the tea, "So what's the occasion Timothy? You've never brought a guest to us before," she laughed and turned to Tecna, "It really is rare to get visitors out here."

"Except for the occasional bear or wolf," Fritz added in with a chuckle as he dropped sugar cubes into his drink.

"It's about Tecna here," Timmy blushed bashfully and gave a small grin.

"Yes, we've heard about you," Tammy smiled warmly, "I can't believe you made the journey all the way here to Domino by yourself."

"Quite brave," Fritz added in, "You should be very proud of yourself. No other runaway from the city has completed such a journey in the dangerous wild before."

Tecna briefly took a sip of her tea and smiled, "Thank you, it was quite an adventure."

"But that isn't what I wanted to bring up," Timmy chimed in with a worried expression on his face, "Tecna here was thinking about returning to the city..." Tecna thought she could have heard a pin drop with the amount of silence that was being expelled in the room. She didn't understand why it was such an issue that she returned home.

"Son..." Timmy's father looked at him with the look of disappointment in his eyes, "Now I understand why you brought her to us. You want us to tell her..."

"You guys need to tell her the truth! About why you ran away...and the truth behind everything. You need to tell her the secret! I know you don't like to talk about it, but for once I think you guys need to."

"There are a lot of things that might...startle her Timothy. It's a lot of information for one person to take in; one especially from the city."

"She can handle it..." Timmy set his tea down on the table. Fritz and Tammy looked at each other with very scared eyes, they nodded in unison, "She should know before heading back to that evil city."

"I can handle whatever you throw at me," Tecna chimed in quietly.

"Fair enough Timothy, we'll tell her everything," Tammy took a deep breath, "Tecna, you must understand this secret is very dangerous, and will probably feel sick to your stomach after hearing all of this. I guess it's time you found out," silence broke out between everyone again except for the noise of Tammy stirring her tea, "It's the truth about being a fairy."

XxxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxx

"So I'm sure Timothy already explained it but we were doctors back in your city years ago," Fritz gave her a serious expression, "However we specialized in cosmetic surgery and well that's how the two of us met in the first place."

"So by cosmetic surgery...you two actually turned all of us ugly pixies into beautiful fairies?" Tecna took a quiet sip from her hot tea. She only dreamed of having such an occupation like the one's Fritz and Tammy used to have; in a way they decided what the next generation of fairies would look like.

"You don't need to glorify our old occupation Tecna," Tammy replied coldly, "Anyway at the time I was also doing independent research on anesthesia. I was trying to make the operation safer."

"I don't know if you realize this Tec but a few people will die from the operation," Timmy added, "You know, from being unconscious for too long...blood loss...etc."

"Oh, I didn't know that..." Tecna trailed off. She couldn't imagine going under the knife and never waking up again. She guessed this was the side of the operation they never talked about.

"Anyway while doing my research I noticed that there was a lesion in every fairies brain that created a compilations with the anesthetics. If you didn't know Tecna, a lesion is a small group of cells that are very odd and just don't look right," Tammy sighed.

"Think of it as almost a cancer," Timmy replied coldly.

Fritz ignored his son, "Except they didn't make anyone sick like cancer, and these cells never spread like cancer. They also were located in the _exact _same spot," Fritz pointed to the top right of his forehead. "It was very suspicious, especially because they were only found in people who had undergone the operation. Needless to say no one in Domino has them."

Tecna became queasy in her seat; she couldn't get the image of a little cell-like lump on everyone's brain. What really concerned her was that Stella must have it too "Is there anyone who doesn't have the lesions?"

"Oddly, yes," Fritz replied, "We went through thousands of raw data files and scans to determine what decided whether the lesions would be there and not...and oddly enough it was their occupation that decided it."

"I don't know if you know this Tecna, but everyone undergoes two operations in their lifetime: one when they turn seventeen, and one when they turn 30 or so when it's time to focus on a career and to change one's appearance to one that's well, not as young," Tammy explained. "It gives one a more mature yet beautiful look."

Tecna only thought of the second operation as a very minor operation that was only used to adjust one's look to look more mature. It seemed as though there was more to this operation than she ever thought.

Tammy continued, "So who are the one's without the lesions? The ones with jobs that require quick wits, strength, and those that face actual danger. People like doctors, firefighters, politicians, wardens, and Witches who had undergone the second operation didn't have them at all. However some young fairies have been able to 'cure' themselves of the lesions."

"So you guys never had them?"

"Nope," Fritz gave her a sympathetic smile as he set down his empty teacup, "Tecna, it may be hard to believe but the lesions are part of the operation; just like the bone scraping, fat sucking, and face molding." Tecna couldn't believe how Timmy's father made the operation seem so harsh and dangerous.

"Why are the lesions there then if they are so common?" Tecna felt her stomach start to sink into her lower intestines and a bitter taste arose in her mouth. She couldn't get Stella out of her mind. She tried remembering their encounter in Solaria Mansion, and how Stella almost 'talked down' to her as if she wasn't even her best friend anymore, and how she didn't seem to have a real care in the world.

"We have theories," Tammy sighed and looked at the floor uncomfortably.

"The lesions were what drove us away from the city. Soon after discovering the lesions the Witches from Special Circumstances decided to...drop by and visit us," Fritz gave Tecna a look that showed fear and terror, "They took all of our documented work and threatened us to not delve any further into our discovery."

"And you _don't _want to mess with the Witches," Tammy added.

Tecna sighed softly, "So that's why you ran away..."

"Exactly, our only option was to run away or forget everything we learned," Tammy replied as she took all the empty dishes into the kitchen sink, "And we couldn't exactly forget about what we learned." Tecna gave a shutter.

"You know about the Warrior Fairies, right?" Fritz asked Tecna.

"Yup. They were all crazy, vain, war-driven, psychopaths. But what do the Warrior Fairies have to do with brain lesions?"

"After the Dark Magic mishap they decided society needed to stay away from nature, magic, and each other," Timmy replied after being quiet for so long, "So now because everyone is pretty and equal...no more wars, no more controversy, and no more disputes because everyone is pretty, smiling, and carefree."

Thinking back to when she was sneaking around in Magix, it was true that everyone was carefree and happy. She didn't remember spotting a singular person who was ever truly full of anger or rage or envy. Now that she thought about it harder; everyone seemed _too _happy in Magix. Living in Magix was comparable to one huge drunken party. The way the fairies and guys acted in Magix would be considered shallow, idiotic, and illogical; as if they didn't have a brain to do any real thinking. She remembered the fairies that chased her up the stairs in Solaria Mansion who were too stupid to use their wings, and thinking about fairies who would burn to death in a building fire after forgetting about their fairy wings.

"Our hypothesis is that the lesions have a major impact on one's real thinking," Tammy concluded.

"You see Tecna..." Timmy turned to face Tecna straight in the eyes, "The operation not only changes the way you look, it changes the way you think."

"How much thinking does it affect? And why do we have an operation to turn people into fairies if we're trying to avoid another magic catastrophe?"

"So full of questions," Fritz smiled, "It affects the part of the brain that does serious thinking, and it enforces a carefree attitude. The cold attitude towards ugly faces is a result of hundreds of years of evolutionary success where prettier people are more favoured...This has been happening since after the Dark Days."

Tammy added in, "And believe me, another magic catastrophe will never happen again. If everyone is carefree and aren't trying to kill each other, you won't see another fight between fairies again. But giving people these 'weak' magical powers and muscles is only a way to lure pixies like you into wanting to endure the operation. It's a simple mind trick."

"It's very complicated we know," Fritz sighed, "And we're still trying to comprehend it fully," he paused, "So that's why we created Domino; a way for pixies like yourselves to avoid the operation and keep your minds alive. We've seen the difference staying ugly makes."

"So why haven't you developed a cure? I mean if the lesions can be removed during the second operation; there must be a way," Tecna questioned the two doctors.

"We would but..." Fritz chuckled, "We don't exactly have the technology to develop a cure. Besides, we don't even have a fairy to test a cure on anyway. No one in Domino has the lesions."

"Domino will be the closest thing to a cure, and that's all we could hope for at the moment," Timmy lightly squeezed Tecna's hand; she appeared pale, sick, and shaking, "Look, I think we better head back to Domino," Timmy gestured towards his parents, "I think this is too much for Tecna to take in." She slowly nodded her head; unable to formulate an actual response. Her world seemed to have flipped in ways she couldn't have imagined.

As Timmy led Tecna out of the warmth of the house and into the bitter cold night she couldn't help but fear Magix, the operation, and especially the Witches. She knew the Witches were behind the lesions; they could have absolute power over the entire population as long as they controlled the way everyone thinks. She wondered what it was truly like behind the big eyes and fairy wings.

She once remembered saying her society was perfect and beautiful, that it was a society worth living in; but after learning the truth she learned her world was way uglier than she ever imagined.


	12. Chapter 12: Bliss & Betrayal

**And time for an extremely suspenseful chapter, and it's about time we got a little romance in here.**

Chapter 12: Bliss & Betrayal

"Now do you see why my parents have to hide in the wild?" Timmy sighed as the two of them walked side by side in the moonlight. The two of them had quite a long walk to Domino from way out here.

"Yes..." Tecna replied softly, "They're wanted people...But so are you, and you don't seem concerned about...being caught?"

"I'm not afraid of them Tec, they'll never get the chance to change me."

"But...you're mind...what if the lesions...?" Tecna bit her lip as she talked. She couldn't bear to see the Witches take Timmy away and putting him under the knife. But Tecna remembered how much Icy wanted to get her hands on him...she couldn't let them do that to Timmy.

"I'd find a way...I'm sure my brain could repair itself. It's happened, people have cured themselves of the lesions," he shrugged, "But as if we should really be concerned." Suddenly Tecna felt one of his warm hands reach out to hold her hand. First she resisted, but then sighed and grabbed his hand back. She liked the way his hands felt, "And do you see now why I had to tell you all of that before...going to the city? I had to let you know what _really _happens in Magix."

"It was a lot of information to take in," she narrowed her eyes on the ground in sadness.

As they continued to walk Timmy briefly stroked her cheek, "Don't be sad...you did great. I think my parents were impressed with how well you took everything in. Most people won't believe us and would say the city would never be that cruel to them...and that's why we never tell them the truth about the lesions."

Tecna remembered her encounter with Icy and Special Circumstances and the Witches and how scary and fearless they all looked, "Don't worry, I can believe they would be that cruel," she chuckled slightly but frowned suddenly, thinking of Stella. No wonder she was so carefree and...Lively. Remembering Stella before and after, the effects of the lesions were really noticeable. She wondered if she'd ever see Stella the same way ever again...

"You wouldn't believe how many runaways pass through here with a spoiled attitude. But not you...you're different," Timmy smiled and his eyes gleamed through his glasses in the moonlight, "That's why I just had to tell you. That's why..." Timmy trailed off, "That's why you're beautiful Tecna." He squeezed her hand tighter. She finally was starting to feel what Musa said about Timmy liking her was right.

"You're so illogical..." Tecna hid her face behind the bang of her hair, "I mean have you not seen my crazy hair...my skin imperfections...my small eyes...my thin lips...and my wide nose..."

The two of them stopped walking and stood in the dark woods. He brought his hand to caress her cheek, "You really shouldn't say that," he worked his hand from the corner of her eye all the way to her chin. His caressing sent a shiver up her spine and gave her a lightheaded feeling. "This is the worst thing the city does to you; they brainwash you into thinking you're all ugly. It's _not_ true Tecna."

"But Timmy...We _are _ugly."

"So by your logic...I'm ugly?"

"It's biologically proven...there's certain things we are..." She choked on her words and got lost in them, "You really think I'm beautiful?"

"Yes," he reached out and held both her hands.

"But its wrong...I can't be pretty. You're supposed to be programmed to react to eye shape, skin tone, and face symmetry."

Timmy squeezed her hands very tightly, "I'm not programmed though. I didn't grow up in the city!" Timmy sighed, "But do you want to know what the first thing was that got me interested in you?"

"What?" she felt herself blush slightly as he pressed his forehead against hers.

"Your slightly burnt skin and scorched hair," he admitted.

"You're so illogical," she frowned, "Why _that_?"

"Seeing you burnt like that...It showed you survived a _real _adventure, and that you had stories to tell."

Tecna rolled her eyes, "It really wasn't that much of an adventure."

"Maybe not, but it showed you took risks...and that you had courage," Timmy replied as Tecna slowly began walking again. Instead he pulled her into a tight embrace. He looked deep into her eyes, and Tecna looked at him the same way. She felt her body feel as though it was as light as a cloud.

She swallowed, "Am I really beautiful?"

"Yes. What you do, the way you think, makes you beautiful," he smiled at her.

"What words of wisdom," she giggled and Timmy gave her a bashful look. They stared in silence until Tecna broke up their embrace and she began walking through the woods again. Suddenly Timmy reached for one of her hands and spun her back around and pulled her back. He placed a passionate kiss on her surprised lips. Tecna didn't fight back and continued to kiss him back intensely as she pressed her weight into him.

It was weird for Tecna. Pixies like her did kiss each other, but it was always so empty and worthless with no signs of real emotion. However, she knew this kiss was full of emotion, and was worth ever second. This was love. As soon as their lips parted, Timmy looked at her with eyes so full of happiness.

As they stayed in a close embrace Timmy brought one of his arms around his hips, and the other one reached toward her locket, "But what about...your someone?"

Tecna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She couldn't activate the pendant and ruin her relationship with Timmy...he was the greatest thing that happened to her. This love was greater than any cosmetic surgery Icy could throw at her. She knew what she had to do to the locket. She pulled away from her sweet embrace, "Timmy... follow me." She began jogging through the woods towards Domino, leaving Timmy in the state of confusion.

He ran closely behind her, "Tecna? What are you doing?" He asked her in a concerned tone as he panted behind her. She remained silent as the trees, shrubs, and rocks became a blur around her, there wasn't a moment to waste. A decision was finally going to be made.

XxxxxXXXXXXxXXxxxxx

Finally they made it back to Domino. The streets were completely desolate, and a giant campfire was being lit in the middle of the town. She skidded a couple metres in front of the fire. The heat felt great on her body after being out in the cold night. Timmy approached her a couple seconds later.

He panted like he was out of breath, "Tec...Tec why...why did you...run?" He paused, "Was it something I said?"

She unclasped the locket from her neck, "I'm fine," she turned to him, "Just watch." She grasped the locket in her hand and stared at its gleaming metal cover. She remembered how Icy tried to trick her into thinking Timmy was a monster, and that Domino was a city threatening Magix. She imagined seeing an image of Icy, pleading for her to press it...to activate it, to get Timmy and the city. By destroying the locket, she was going to finally be free of the Witches.

She threw it into the fire and it landed on a crackling log. The fire swallowed it and started melting away at the locket, turning the outside as black as Icy's heart, until it exploded in a small burst of light. All remains gone forever.

"Wow, dramatic," Timmy fixed his glasses as Tecna came and put her arms around his neck, "So whoever gave you that locket...?"

"They don't matter to me anymore," Tecna found herself smiling, "They aren't coming either."

"But why did you...um burn it?"

"I had to get rid of all remains," Tecna replied as Timmy brushed her magenta bangs away from her face in a sweet way. He pressed his forehead against hers and looked at her teal eyes, "I've been waiting for someone like you Tecna...for a long time."

She replied softly, "Yeah, me too." He brought her up into another intense and passionate kiss. She felt herself almost crying. Now she wouldn't have to worry about Icy taking Timmy away from her, she was free, and in a way...Domino was free. She was no longer an infiltrator.

She felt her whole body slump onto Timmy's as a wave of exhaustion swept over her. She wondered what time it was, "Sounds like someone's ready for bed," Timmy helped her walk back to her cabin where Flora and Musa would be fast asleep. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek before she stumbled quietly into her top bunk bed. She fell asleep that instant; her world was officially bliss.

The following morning her bliss was over, and her world was in panic. She scrambled out of her bed to notice Musa and Flora weren't in their bunks. She gazed out the window and she couldn't believe what she saw. Outside people were screaming and scrambling around as people with hawk-like features and dark hair expelled dark magic from their hands, destroying buildings and capturing citizens of Domino. All around the city was in blazes and smoke was everywhere. As she looked up into the sky she could visibly see Timmy's invisibility barrior giving off a faint shade of blue, and up near the top of the dome of the magic barrio it appeared to have cracked like glass and now there was a gaping hole. Coming through the hole of it were more Witches in hover cars from Special Circumstances.

Icy and her Witches had come; Domino was being infiltrated.

So many things fluttered through her confused mind. She destroyed the locket...this couldn't have been...her fault. Maybe someone else...was an infiltrator. She thought of Musa...there was no way she could have been a spy, unless she was a really good spy. The locket was destroyed for good...

"No no no no no...This can't be happening," she began to sob. She wondered where Timmy was, and if he was okay. She had to find out if he was okay; she couldn't let Icy get his hands on him. She shuttered at the horrible things Icy would do. Considering how devious she was, she wondered if she could erase Timmy's brain permanently of Domino so he'd never remember a thing, not even their first kiss.

She sighed and ducked behind the wall as a Witch ran by; she had to get out...fast. This hiding spot would not last. She had to find Musa, Flora, Riven, and Timmy. She only hoped they already fled. Tecna threw on her hoodie and pants and a pair of running shoes and ran out of the cabin and pressed her back up around the side of a building. The Witches ran in their dark uniforms and merely appeared as a blur; their super strength muscles were at work grabbing as many of the runaways as they could. She watched the Witches drag some runaways in the direction of the rabbit pens. Using logic, she assumed they were all being held in the pens.

She looked out into the direction of the woods; one Witch was scanning back and forth making sure no one could make a break for it in the woods. She only hoped Timmy and his parents managed to possibly stay hidden out of town.

Suddenly she watched a dark haired female make a break for the woods from a hiding spot. The Witch cocked her head to face her and stared her down as if the girl was prey. The girl continued to run and Tecna thought she was actually going to make it. The Witch stood like a statue until the girl managed to reach the trees edge and the Witch lunged like an animal at her. The two dashed into the woods until she heard a blood-curdling scream come from the girl. Seconds later the Witch emerged as if nothing happened.

"She...killed her..." Tecna gasped. These Witches were much more than scary, yet beautiful faces. They were animals...beasts, who were bent on killing if anyone got out of line and doesn't obey. She couldn't believe what the Witches would do to innocent people. Worse, she remembered these were the people who ran their city.

Suddenly in a split second she felt a quick ball of dark energy hit her in the stomach that made her fly backwards a couple feet. She stumbled onto her back and clenched her stomach in pain. She glared up and she saw a Witch staring down at her. He was wearing a white lab coat and he had black hair. His face was pale, and he had the identical hawk like nose like every other witch, his eyes were black and soulless and he didn't show any emotions in his facial features. Without saying a word he grabbed Tecna roughly by the arm. He dug his claw like nails into her skin.

Tecna did the only thing she could do at this point and she fought back, "Let go of me you...beast!" She tried punching him in the chest with her one free arm and she tried pulling away from his tight grasp. The man stood like a statue as if Tecna was a little flea trying to fight him. The more she struggled the deeper he grabbed into her skin until they cut into her skin like razors.

She yelped in pain and fought the tears as she slumped to the ground. He released his grasp to reveal five puncture wounds gushing small amounts of blood. She couldn't believe his nails could dig into skin like that; the Witches weren't just beasts on the inside...they were physically made with qualities of a monster.

He grabbed onto her wrist tightly and pulled her roughly to her feet. This time he didn't dig his nails into her, "You uglies always think you have a chance..." He spoke in monotone. He began taking her into the direction of the rabbit pens. She imagined Timmy being caught and being dragged off somewhere...she wondered if he would resist or if he would strategically fight back. She dreaded thinking he did something to get himself killed. After all, he was a very wanted man.

**Who was behind the infiltration? Are Timmy and the others safe? What will the Witches do with the runaways?**


	13. Chapter 13: Pain in the Pen

Chapter 13: Pain in the Pen

There was only one thing that ran through Tecna's mind as the Witch shoved her in the direction of the other captives; start to panic. She knew people would be suspicious of her; after all she was the last runaway to show up. All signs pointed to her...but it wasn't her fault. But she already knew what to expect from the citizens of Domino.

As they rounded the corner around a small building, Tecna couldn't believe what she saw. All the citizens were packed in these rabbit cages...about 8 per cage all bloodied, bruised, scorched, and in searing pain. Tecna noticed all their hands were bound behind their backs using some dark-magic restraints. She couldn't believe what she was witnessing.

Finally he dragged her past more cages until she stopped at one. Her hands were put behind her back and she felt a stinging sensation wrap around her wrists. She was violently shoved in as the gate was closed and locked behind her. Tecna stumbled from laying on her stomach to her back and she sat up. She noticed there was a Witch guarding the gate directly in front of them.

"You..." A voice hissed at Tecna from beside her. She turned to her left to see Riven with a fat lip and a cut across his cheek. He peered at her arms and noticed the blood gushing out of her arm from where the Witch dug in, "Wait...you resisted?" His attitude seemed to change after seeing she resisted against the Witches.

Tecna couldn't find the words to reply, and merely nodded her head sadly. She looked beside Riven to see Flora badly bruised. Flora gave her an ashamed look; she would never want to harm a human soul.

Flora spoke up, "I had to...they were ruthless." She bowed her head. "Don't think differently of me..." Tecna couldn't believe this is what was left of Domino; blood and bruises. She could tell by the tone of Flora that she was emotionally hurt. She didn't blame her or anyone on their sadness, this was their home...burned and taken away from them violently.

"You missed breakfast call this morning...bad time to sleep in huh?" Riven gave her the slightest laugh as he tried to ease the tension and pain between them. She watched him try to get his hands free but it wouldn't work.

"Late night with Timmy," she brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them, "I don't suppose anyone has seen him?" She tried to hide how much she was worried.

"No one's seen him at all. We're pretty sure he got away," Flora tried to give her a sympathetic smile, "Unless...they already took him away..."

"Took him away? Where would they take him?" Tecna gasped with worry. Her eyes barely flushing with tears, she couldn't lose him...not like this. She never said goodbye.

"Judging by how we're all organized in these pens...we're organized by city. So...we're going back to our home cities," Flora explained, "We're going to...go under the knife."

"If this is the case..." Tecna bit her lip until it hurt, "Where's Musa?" She scanned the crowd from where she was located. All the runaways...no one was without some sort of bruise, cut, or scar. Looking at them, she never saw them as the uglies that she seen them upon arrival days before. Suddenly she saw three witches come close to their pen carrying a struggling and roughly fighting figure. Tecna saw a flash of short navy pigtails.

The Witches finally managed to get a dark magic bound around her hands and this time they put one around her ankles; Musa was a major resistor. She was not giving up without a major fight.

"Watch this one," the Witch replied to the other Witch who was guarding the gate. They threw Musa in the pen with them, "She's unarmed, but dangerous." The Witches that brought Musa left in a hurry to gather the leftover runaways.

Musa struggled to flip over but finally managed. The first thing she spotted was Riven and Flora and she gave them worried expressions, but then she seen Tecna sitting across from her. Her eyes darted at her with anger Tecna never saw before. She felt Musa was about to kill her.

"This..." she hissed in the way Icy would normally talk, "This is _your_ entirefault!" She erupted at Tecna.

Riven tried to help Tecna out, "She resisted Musa...she fought back!" He turned Tecna around slightly so Musa could see her arm. He pointed at the blood still running down her arm.

"She...betrayed Domino!" Tecna thought about the locket...It was burned...melted out of existence. It was destroyed. It couldn't be true, "Are you stupid Riven?"

"We can't be blaming each other for this," Flora piped in softly, "It could have been a satellite image...tracker..."

"I think it was a spy. A spy with magenta hair to be exact," Musa still continued to glare at her with the most hatred in her eyes.

"Musa..." Riven sighed. Suddenly a Witch came in and brought Riven and Flora up to their feet. They scanned them with an eye scanner that would reveal all information on them: name, birthday, age, city origin...anything.

"Yup, these two are for Magix," the Witch replied as the two were hauled away. Tecna wondered if she would ever...see them with their old faces, and old personality. She watched her two friends being marched away...she assumed to never be seeing them the same way again.

"How did you change his mind?" Musa spat at her, "When you first showed up Riven didn't trust you one bit...But I told him you were my friend...she would _never _betray me. I guess I was painfully wrong." Musa turned her body to adjust herself. Tecna spotted a giant bruise on her torso, and many scratches. No, none of this could be her fault, it couldn't be.

"I'm not lying," Tecna replied softly and avoided looking at Musa in the eyes, "I never...I'm on your side! Please believe me..." Suddenly another Witch came over with another eye scanner. Tecna was lifted to her feet and her eye was scanned for her information.

"Hm...Wait, are you Tecna?" The Witch looked at her with a confused expression. This was the first time she ever saw a Witch with a different expression besides a monotone and extremely scary one, "Icy wants to see you immediately."

"I knew it! You were a spy!" Musa yelled out from behind her, "How could you betray us! Domino is gone because of you!" Tecna huffed, no...It wasn't true about her betraying the smoke; she wasn't the infiltrator. "I never want to see you again!"

Tecna got one more glance at Musa before being ushered away. She couldn't think of anything to say at her enraged 'friend'. Tears ran down Musa's face as she buried her face in her knees and yelled out an assortment of swears that made Tecna cringe. She shuttered at this being her last memory of Musa; full of raging fury and hatred.

XxxxxXXXXXXxXXxxxxx

They brought her to the meeting hall that had now been transformed into the new Special Circumstances headquarters for Witches. They all stared at her as she was quietly brought to one end of a long table; and Dr. Icy was located all the way at the far end. It reminded Tecna of her and Icy's first encounter; the one that changed her life forever.

Icy bared her teeth, "It's so good to see you again Tecna," she gathered her hands together and rested them on the table.

"Always a pleasure," Tecna rolled her eyes. She adjusted herself in her seat and she glared at the mark the Witch left, it finally stopped bleeding like mad.

"What on Earth happened to you Tecna?" Icy glared at her scabbed mark, "You...resisted?" Icy's eyes glared like a hawk. However, her glare could no longer compare to the angry eyes that Musa gave her. Icy seemed to lose her scary potential.

"I had to resist..." Tecna lied, "Some people were already suspicious of me, I couldn't have let the people of Domino know I was a spy, so I resisted against one of your Witches."

"Clever enough I suppose," Icy replied, "You were here in Domino quite a long time...how long exactly?"

Tecna had to quickly come up with a good lie to tell her, "A long time." Tecna concluded that it was a horrible lie.

"I see," Icy frowned, "What a shame it took you so long to get here."

"I almost didn't make it to Domino at all," she defended herself; "I almost burned to death by those...fireflies."

"Hmm, guess I should have been worried about you alone in the wild," Icy sighed, "But if something would have happened to either you or the pendant we would have been able to rescue you."

"Well the pendant and I almost burned to death...would have destroyed the locket," Tecna slowly brought her hands up around her neck to remember the pendant is long destroyed; no longer in existence.

Icy cackled, "Oh don't worry Tecna, the pendant would have sent out a signal to us if it got destroyed in any way."

Those last words tore through Tecna like blades: _the pendant would have sent out a signal to us if it got destroyed..._ Then it was really true, when the pendant was thrown into the fire it contacted Icy and the Witches. That made her the infiltrator...the cause for all this destruction, torture, and mayhem to the innocent town of Domino. It was all her fault.

"Speaking of the pendant...where is it?" Icy's eyes darted at her neck.

"I hid it;" Tecna piped in, "Fearing someone would put two and two together."

"Oh, well I need you to fetch it for me," Icy innocently asked, "I can't leave loose ends hanging around," she laughed, "Could you fetch it for me?"

"Of course," Tecna gritted her teeth. What was she going to do now? Icy would figure out that she purposefully didn't press the pendant because she wanted to stay in Domino. She had no way of getting home without telling Icy the truth, unless she ran off...grabbed a hover board from her room and took off.

"Do you need one of my Witches to assist you?" she pointed at a Witch that was standing directly behind her. Tecna shook her head no, "Just thought I'd ask. You're really growing up Tecna, and soon you really will be fully grown up." Tecna cringed at the last thought; growing up to Ice meant changing your brain to a less threatening and illogical one.

She casually left the Witches behind her and she jogged over to her room...her old room. She dug out of the rubble her hover board, but her crash bracelets were broken beyond repair. As she snapped her fingers on her board she realized that if she were to fall off her board; it would be a real fall.

Before any Witches could realize what she was doing she took off into the twisted and tangled woods towards Timmy's inventing shop. She hoped he was hiding inside and was safe and sound. It was way out of town, so it was very plausible for him to merely be in hiding until the Witches left his home in shambles. Tecna was going to keep her hopes up that he was okay.

She kept wondering what she was going to tell him when they eventually met: _I'm the one who destroyed Domino. I'm the spy. Musa, Flora, and Riven are gone because of me._ She sighed as the depressing list went on. This was not going to be an easy thing to tell him.

Finally she made it and she charged her way inside. Her legs ached and shook as she gazed around the room to find it completely deserted; no Timothy and none of his gadgets were sprawled out on the table. The entire room was ransacked with smashed windows, and heavy amounts of dirt sprawled across the floor. He was truly gone.

Tecna felt her tears flow like a waterfall down her cheeks. She loved his boy, and now he's in Icy's grasps...probably being hurt and tortured, "It's my entire fault!" Tecna burst out, "I didn't want this to happen...none of this."

"Psst." She heard someone say.

"Now I'm hearing things...This is driving me crazy..." she continued to sob.

"Tec, down here," she recognized Timmy's voice. She looked crazily at the floor to notice Timmy lifting up a portion of the hard floor. Tecna immediately noticed that there was an underground room; Timmy really planned ahead for an invasion. "Now stop standing there and come down here," he ordered to her. Timmy brought her under with him and he shut the top hatch behind them. They both climbed down a ladder a couple feet until they reached solid metal ground.

It was a simple metal surrounded room with a few beds, walls lined with a bunch of Timmy's gadgets, and all the survival gear one would need to make a trek around the world. She couldn't help but be impressed with everything he had done. On the far wall was a mysterious large door. She wondered how big this place was. Tecna rested her hover board on the ground.

"I'm so glad you're safe-" Timmy tried to finish his sentence but instead Tecna leaped into him and tackled him to the ground and gave him an immensely passionate kiss. Maybe things were going to be okay after all.


	14. Chapter 14: The Truth Comes Out

**Not a very exciting chapter; but I promise the next chapter will be a very exciting and climactic one.**

Chapter 14: The Truth Comes Out

They broke away from each other and stared into each other's eyes. Tecna never noticed before, but tears ran down Timmy's face as if the most horrific thing in the world just happened. She finally clicked in that the most horrific thing ever _did _happen to him. She couldn't comprehend what was going through his mind as these monstrous people came, destroyed the one thing he called home, and took all his friends away. All because of her, she shuddered at that last thought.

"What's happened in Domino?" He managed to spit out of his trembling sadness, "Is anyone...?" Tecna noticed he was shaking.

"The Witches came and...They destroyed everything and took everyone," Tecna replied softly, "They have Musa, Flora, even Riven..." She bit her lip as she remembered her last sighting of them. "They're taking them back to the city...They're all going to get the lesions!"

Timmy brought her close and held her tight as tears streamed down his face, "I figured." He continued to hold her close as they continued to talk softly, "I can't believe it finally happened..."

"Your shield held up as best as it could. You tried your best," She tried to cheer him up, "Did they get your parents?"

Timmy set his red rimmed glasses next to him as more tears flooded down his cheeks, "They took them away and destroyed all of their raw data on the lesions back at the house. I watched it all from a distance," Timmy trembled, "I should have done something but I couldn't. Those Witches have superhuman strength like you wouldn't believe. My mom says the second operation rewires their nerves, strengthens their bones like metal frames, their muscles are super strong, and they have teeth that can bite through a human skull." It was true then, it was through another operation that they earned their scary features and crazy bodies. She couldn't imagine what happened to that girl that tried to make a break for it...She knocked herself back into reality as she imagined the worst. "I'd be taken away for sure if I tried...All I did was watch them...take her them away..."

Timmy peered over to see the scar that the Witch left on Tecna, "But, how did you break away...?" He sighed and brought her face up to his as they stared into each other's eyes again. Tecna realized she had to decide now what she needed to do. She had to tell him it was her fault for everything. She couldn't live with the guilt anymore. But he would stop trusting her, and right now they needed to work together as much as they could.

They were the only free citizens of Domino left; and all hope rested on them. Tecna knew what she would need to do to undo all the wrong she had done, "It was sheer luck. I'm just glad that you're okay," she replied softly. She stood up and brushed herself off, and so did Timmy. He brought her up into another kiss.

"We need to go after them," Tecna replied sharply as they pulled apart, "We're going to rescue your parents, Musa, Riven, and Flora from the Witches at Special Circumstances."

He bitterly laughed, "The two of us against an agency of Witches. It's a little farfetched...Highly illogical too."

"They won't expect it."

"We don't even know where the headquarters are..." Timmy slid back on his glasses and looked at her glumly and without any hope on rescuing them.

She looked confidently at him, "But I do," she quickly had to think of a way to hide her infiltrating secret, "A couple ugly pixies showed me. It's out of town, and I know if we work together we can break them out. We can't let the Witches change their minds."

"And you really want to put everything on the line and risk your mind to save them?" Timmy dared to ask her.

"Of course I do, I have to," A helpless sob broke out from her vocal cords. In her mind her _'I have to' _meant making it up to him for betraying his true home and everyone in it. She was the cause for this mess, and she was sure as hell going to try and fix it. "You have the supplies to venture back to the city it looks like..." She went to the far wall to find survival kits identical to the one she travelled with. She quickly slid one over her shoulders and tossed one over to Timmy which knocked him to the ground.

"I can't believe we're actually going to do this..."

"What other choice do we have? There's no more Domino to go to," Tecna replied as she stood on her hover board. She watched Timmy slowly get up, sling the backpack over his shoulder, and grab a spare board and a rolled up tent from the opposite wall. He floated over and stood in front of the mysterious doors. He opened it to reveal a long, dimly lit corridor that stretched on for eternity. "Where does it go?"

"It stretches beyond the caved-tunnels that lead to Domino. It will take us a good couple miles away from Domino and towards Magix. By doing this I'm sure we'll avoid all Witches until we get to their headquarters."

"You really were prepared for something like this to happen," Tecna replied softly.

"It never hurts to be prepared," he chuckled and led the way down the corridor; leaving Domino behind...maybe forever.

XxxxxXXXXXXxXXxxxxx

They figured it would take about four days to travel back to Magix together. They took the most secluded and densely forested path to avoid any Witch encounters. She knew Icy would figure out that she was now missing, and Timmy was never captured at all. She only hoped she would not expect two runaways like themselves to break into the most fortified structure in Magix.

By the third day of travelling a monstrous storm struck and they were forced to huddle in a tent together. The wind roared fiercely at the sides of the tent, and the rain pounded loudly as it struck the outer protection of the tent. Tecna was only relieved they were dry, warm, and safe from the Witches. She knew that today would be the night she would admit the truth...It was now or never.

Tecna lit a lantern that illuminated the entire tent. She looked sadly at Timmy, "Do you think...they'll rush the operation on everyone? I'm worried they'll be so quick and unsafe with the process that..." Tecna didn't dare say anymore.

Timmy only gave her a grim look, "I'm positive they will, but I'm more worried about my parents. I mean they're way older than the age to give the lesions back to, and I'm more worried they would physically remove any memories on Domino and the lesions. I know they will."

"We just have to stay positive, that's all," she reached over and grasped his hands softly in reassurance.

"I should have stopped them!" He yanked his hands away angrily.

"You would have been killed," Tecna tried to remind him. She knew Icy's intentions for Timmy, even though he may not realize how much he was wanted.

"Captured Tec, not killed," Timmy corrected, "I doubt their leader would be _that _harsh. I may be a wanted man...but I'm not a criminal." Tecna cringed at the thought of Icy taking him away for good.

They sat in silence staring at the illuminated lantern. The walls of the tent continued to blow around harshly and the water came down by the buckets. It was time to tell the truth about her betrayal, "You _are _a criminal to some...Icy will kill you."

"Who's Icy?" He pressed his glasses onto the arch of the nose.

"She's the leader of the Witches at Special Circumstance. She's behind all the cruelty, and she's the one who wanted the take down of Domino," she spitted out quickly.

"How do you know about her?"

"I...I...I've been brought to Special Circumstances before, I _met _her. She's very real and I know she wants you dead."

The word dead brought pain to Timmy, "What were you doing in Special Circumstance? I thought you said you were only showed where the building was...not the inside?"

"I'm sorry," she hid her face.

"What? I don't understand..." He went over next to her and brought her face up to his reassuringly. He smiled at her.

"You don't understand, I haven't been completely honest with you," tears streamed down her face as she knew there was no turning back on her lie now. Timmy was sure to hate her now. "You should hate me right now."

"Why would I ever do such an illogical thing like that?" He brushed her damp hairs away from her face.

"I'm the one who infiltrated Domino," she looked away from Timmy; ashamed to even look at him, "I'm the reason why Domino is destroyed."

"This makes _no_ logicalsense," Timmy's eyes darted at her.

"I can explain...I'll start at the beginning..." Tecna wiped her eyes and began to explain herself. She began with Icy delaying her operation because of her encounter with Musa, and that she would never be a pretty fairy unless she did the deed for her and how she believed how evil Domino was. Tecna explained as best as she could about how difficult it was to make the decision. She explained how she gave her the heart shaped pendant that was the activator.

Timmy angrily interrupted her, "Then why'd you do it Tec? My home & family are gone!"

"Let me finish..." Tecna pleaded as more teams streamed down her face. She knew Timmy was disgusted at her. She couldn't blame him; even she was disgusted at herself. She saw herself as devious as one of the Witches.

"No, I don't want to hear anymore," Timmy quickly exited the tent and ran off into the storm. Tecna only watched as he stood out in the heavy storm and let the rain and water drench him. She had to bring him back inside to clear everything up. She ran out into the storm and approached him. He kept his back to her.

"Why..." Tec could barely hear what he was saying over the roar of the wind.

"It's all a big misunderstanding..." Tecna was almost shouting to get hear voice over the wind, "Just let me explain." He remained silent so Tecna took that as an answer to reply, "I had a change of heart and I saw Icy was lying about you being a monster. I saw how free you were all here and especial, and then I met you and you changed me. When I was told about the lesions...I knew there was no way I could go back."

"Then how did it still happen if you had a 'change of heart'?" He finally turned around to face her glumly, "I never thought you would do something like this Tecna."

"No...That night where I tossed the pendant in the fire...That's what activated it," Tecna replied sharply, "I didn't know by destroying it I would activate it as well! I only threw it in the fire to get rid of the burden and escape from Icy's clutches because I knew Domino was where I wanted to be."

Timmy remained silent as he gazed into her sorrow-filled teal eyes.

She reached out and grasped his freezing cold hands, "I'm not asking you to forgive me right away...or at all. But can't you see I'm trying to correct what I did wrong...I'm not resting until I rescue everyone and undo all my wrongs."

He still didn't say a thing.

"But right now we need to work together if we're ever going to free everybody...even if you may hate me right now," Tecna managed to say as her lips went numb from the cold. "Can we at least work together until we free everyone? After that, you can go back to hating me. I know it's hard..."

"Okay," he gave her a small grin.

"Okay? What does that okay mean?" She stood; mouth ajar.

"It means I forgive you for now," he started leading her back to the tent, "You were illogically tricked, and I can see you're trying to fix everything." He zipped up the tent behind them as they sat in the warmth, "And I guess it would be illogical to turn away from the only other person who can help me save everyone." He cuddled up next to Tecna and wrapped his arms around her.

"Does that mean...?"

"You aren't exactly forgiven...Yet I do," he kissed her briefly on the cheek, "Things will eventually get better between us."

"That's all I could ask for," Tecna sighed. She was so thankful that Timmy was willing to understand all the confusion she went through to cause the destruction of Domino. He knew she never wanted any of this to happen, and everything was all a big misunderstanding. Tecna knew Timmy still had some hate for her actions, and she couldn't blame him for it. Now all they needed to do now was break everyone out of the Witches headquarters and...Well she didn't know what they would do after rescuing everyone. They couldn't go back to the old Domino...it just wasn't going to happen like that. Maybe they could start a new runaway city...A new Domino of sorts. Then, she knew their goal would be to create a cure for the lesions, and to break all of the suppressed minds of the fairies and to set them free of this carefree world. They could be the spark for true revolution against the Witches.

That's exactly what this world needed Tecna concluded; it needed a revolt against the scheming Witches. They were going to bring down Icy and the Witches once and for all.


	15. Chapter 15: Old Ties

**Brief Star Wars quote (from Episode V) said by Timmy.**

Chapter 15: Old Ties

They managed to reach the ruins of Gardenia by the following nightfall. Now it was time to actually think up a plan to withdrawal the Witches out of their headquarters so Timmy and she could hitch a ride on the back of one of their hover cars on its departure back to the underground prison. Of course she knew she had to think of a plan if they got inside...but she figured that plan would just fall into place.

"You know...We're going to need more help if we're ever going to succeed," Timmy whispered to her as he glided directly next to her on his board. The way he whispered it made Tecna feel as if they were being stalked, "This dynamic duo thing won't work the best against a legion of super strength Witches."

They glided their way to the base of the old roller coaster and stopped to think of a plan. Being near the roller coaster again gave Tecna an ashamed feeling...Weeks earlier she thought Timmy was some prank Musa was pulling on her as they stood at the top of the coaster and set off a flare to contact him.

And now here he is in the flesh...its funny how she ended up meeting him at the roller coaster after all.

Timmy spoke up again, "What is one thing that would get the Witches to swarm out of their headquarters?"

"You," Tecna spoke bitterly, "But we can't do that or else there is no way rescue will be possible," Tecna paused until she finally thought of something. She snapped her fingers in glee, "I got it. We need to bring attention to Domino...That it's still _alive_!" Tecna did admit that Domino was technically alive. Alive and thriving? No, but alive? Yes. "We need to make them think that there are more runaways out here, but we need to show it off near the city so people will see. The Witches will panic fearing Pixies will leave."

"So make some sort of giant, glowing sign?" Timmy raised an eyebrow. "There's one problem with your plan, we need extra hands to do it. Even just a few..."

They paused as they heard laugher and hushed giggles coming from the peak of the roller coaster where she and Musa once were so long ago. They gazed up to hear three distinct laughs coming from the top. Suddenly one of them sent off a flare. Tecna and Timmy stared at each other in shock.

"They're signalling for you," Tecna hissed. She couldn't believe it was true that setting off a flare was a signal to Timmy after all, and that people _still _continued to signal. This time she knew they were going to be disappointed to not be going to Domino.

"What do you want me to do exactly?" Timmy whispered harshly, "I can't exactly take runaways with me to Domino anymore."

"No, don't you see? They're just like us...They're Pixies. They could help us," Tecna replied. "Those are exactly the type of people who will help us best right now." Tecna dug through her backpack and handed him a flashlight, "Now go give them an introduction. They've been eager to meet you."

With Timmy in front they slowly crept their way silently up the roller coaster beams. Tecna then paused to watch Timmy have fun with these innocent ugly Pixies. She missed having old time fun like this. She watched Timmy move swiftly up next to the figures; they stared at him in fear because they were unable to see his face in the pitch darkness.

"Are you Timmy?" The one boy piped in nervously.

Tecna gazed as Timmy brought the flashlight under his chin and turned it on to illuminate his face in a sinister way. He spoke in the creepiest voice he could to the figures. He extended his hand to the figures. Tecna could barely sustain her laughter as she waited, "Join us...or die." His voice boomed.

"Please! We don't want to die," One of the girls screeched nervously.

"Yeah, we just wanted to take you to Domino...That's all!" One of the voices exclaimed. Tecna recognized that voice from somewhere...but she couldn't remember where. She zoomed up behind Timmy and the two of them laughed at the frightened Pixies.

Tecna finally spoke in, "We're just pulling a prank. You guys really set yourselves up for it. But on a side note, we were wondering if you could help us..." She turned her attention to the figure that she recognized from somewhere and smiled, "Don't you recognize me, Nova?"

XxxxxXXXXXXxXXxxxxx

They all ventured down to the bottom of the coaster and down underneath its giant support beams. With the help from some flashlights, Tecna was proven right that the one girl was in fact Nova. The other two revealed themselves to be Galatea, and Andy. For the first time ever, Tecna found herself seeing these people not as ugly; but as good looking. She found she didn't have anything negative to say about their appearance.

Galatea had creamy blonde hair pulled back into low pig-tails; she had gemstone-resembling aquamarine eyes, fair skin, and had soft pink full lips. She wore the same hideous school uniform though. She figured she could still call the uniforms atrocious.

She then looked at Andy. He had illuminating dark eyes, fair skin as well, a pointy nose, and spiked slick black hair. He wore the same school uniform. Tecna knew that months ago she would have called him ugly, but now she saw he had some good facial features, same with Galatea. She finally understood what Timmy was talking about being "brainwashed into thinking your ugly". Being in a city full of happy Pixies, and returning back to her old city really showed how much they were really convinced that they were ugly. After learning about the lesions; the Pixies were the only normal people out there.

Tecna couldn't believe how much her view had changed by being away.

"I thought you were..." Nova finally spoke up to Tecna.

"Pretty and a Fairy? Yeah, it's funny how things kind of turned upside down within these last weeks," Tecna rolled her eyes sarcastically. "I've had the most illogical weeks of my life," she joked.

"Why were you guys trying to run away to Domino?" Timmy asked them.

"More rumours of Domino and you Timmy have been coming up more recently," Andy explained, "More people want to run away, and we figured we would too."

"Well you need to tell them Domino isn't looking for new recruits right now," Timmy lied, "I'm not taking people back out for awhile. It's a really long story."

"Oh? Then what do you need our help for?" Galatea asked. By the tone of her voice, Tecna suspected she was eager to help them.

"To make a long story short, we're breaking into Special Circumstances...the Witch headquarters at the edge of town," Timmy managed to explain. As suspicious as these Pixies were of them, Tecna knew they would be willing to help. "We need help creating a diversion to drive them out of the headquarters to investigate, and for at least one of them to return briefly so Tecna and I can get inside by clinging to the back of the hover car."

"Dangerous," Nova replied, "But I thought Witches were...myth?"

"They're _very _real," Tecna explained coldly, "But what we need you guys to do is create a vivid message near Magix so the Witches will go take it down out of suspicion."

"What are we supposed to write exactly?" Andy asked. Tecna and Timmy gave nervous and sympathetic glances. Timmy went over and whispered something unknown in his ears. He smiled, "Whatever you say Timmy...We'll do it."

"Anything else you need us to do after creating the message?" Nova smiled. Tecna couldn't believe they were going to help them. She was thankful that Pixies loved to pull tricks like this, and that they loved the thrill.

"Hover away as fast as you can," Timmy laughed nervously, "You do not want to be around when they show up."

"Hover in the trees," Tecna advised, "They're hover cars will have difficulty flying through the tangled mess of branches and closely meshed trees. It's also only logical to return to Alfea..." Then an idea hit Tecna, "Get as many friends as you can to help actually..."

Timmy eyes widened, "Tec? Are you insane?"

"Just trust me on this," Tecna turned to face him but then faced their new friends, "The Witches will be sent on a goose chase around the area trying to catch you guys...Might as well cause panic and chaos for the Witches." Tecna smirked, imagining Icy panicking as she believes there are more runaways than she thought, trying to cause destruction in her city. "She wanted to send me on a chase to Domino, well I'm going to send her on a chase around her own city," she smiled as she imagined how great her revenge would be. She would take it as a small victory against the cruel Dr. Icy.

XxxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxx

"We really can't thank you enough for this," Timmy replied timidly to Galatea, Nova, and Andy before they dispersed to gather more Pixies for the giant trick. "You have no idea how much this helps us."

"We're always eager to pull a new trick, especially one of this magnitude," Nova smiled, "We've got enough sparklers here to illuminate a humongous message. Pretty sure you'll see it all the way from the Witches headquarters." Nova handed her binoculars, "Just so you can get a better view. You don't want to miss this."

"Those Witches will be out here in car-loads for sure," Tecna replied confidently, "I know this plan will work." As their three friends turned away on hoverboards to depart towards Alfea and the hillside, Tecna felt the need to yell out one more reminder to them, "Remember...get away fast." Nova, Andy, and Galatea zoomed off happily to set the plan into place. She turned her attention to Timmy, "We better get going to the outskirts..."

As Tecna glided smoothly along the familiar paths, she couldn't help but notice Timmy looked nervous, and was scared by the tiniest noise that came from some of the rural family houses, "Are you okay Timmy?" She whispered to him softly.

"It's just..." He paused, "I've never been this close to the city before. I feel...crowded." Then it occurred to her that this is the closest Timmy had ever been to a city before, "It's just weird, that's all."

"I don't blame you," she replied softly, "But don't worry...Things will get less crowded as we get farther out of the city."

"Do you think the Witches hideout will be...packed?" He asked nervously.

Tecna thought about it for a minute, "Maybe a few. Most will be gone to investigate our planned trick so logically...And it's night time anyway. They have to sleep at some point, right?" Somehow she doubted that last fact, she bet they could survive on no sleep at all being the super-humans that they were.

XxxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxx

They found the road that led directly to the underground headquarters. They perched themselves in the shrubs by the road and pulled themselves out packages of dehydrated food to quickly eat before the next leg of their adventure continued. From their spot in the trees and shrubs they could still see the hill where the message would be portrayed. All they had to do was wait. Timmy passed her a steaming bowl of spinach surprise.

"Thanks," Tecna replied softly as they ate in silence. She couldn't believe she was going to break into the most fortified building in all of Magix; guarded by people who could kill her with the single motion of an arm. Their plan to break in was so crazy it was sure to succeed.

"So what do we do after we get on the back of the hover car?" Timmy asked her fearfully, "We need at least a brief idea of a plan. We _can't _fail."

"I know," Tecna began to explain, "Well we have no chance of bringing our hoverboards with us...there's no way. But by my calculations the first hover car to return will be the one to inform Dr. Icy about the trick. So, it should take us to the level that she's on..."

Timmy clued in to her logic, "...And considering how much she has wanted to capture Domino, she should be with the runaways. Hopefully not...performing surgery," they both shuttered, "But I understand your sensible logical. It seems really reasonable."

Tecna chuckled, "I'm only working off of an educated guess...For all we know Icy is nowhere near Musa, Riven, Flora, and your parents. But there's a very good chance anyway..."

They both went dead silent after that as they saw something strange in the distance. They immediately grabbed the binoculars Nova gave them earlier and sat close together and used one eye piece each to get a better view. It started off just as a small spark, but quickly grew and flames began to grow to form letters. Tecna was amazed that they gathered enough sparklers to create such a large message. Judging by how large it was projected this far out, she was positive even the fairies in Magix would see it. This revenge was almost too good to be true. Tecna and Timmy continued to watch the letters grow until it was fully displayed.

Tecna smiled after reading the message. She knew it would cause chaos and worry in Icy's mind as she read it, and would cause aroused suspicion at Alfea, and even Magix. Clearly burned in the hillside overlooking her city, the message clearly glowed; **Domino Lives**.

"I hope the message is okay," Timmy whispered, "I thought it was a logical choice that would make Icy's cold-blood boil."

Tecna gave him a huge grin, "It's better than okay." Suddenly they ducked their bodies in the concealed bushes as they heard a hover car approached. They watched seven Witch hover cars zoom past them in a blur towards the flames. Things were going exactly the way Tecna wanted, and she couldn't have been happier.

She couldn't help but notice how different these hover cars were after seeing them at night. She realized these one's had no windows except the ones in the front, and they didn't even have headlights. The only light they gave off was an eerie faint green glow from the base.

As soon as they were sure they were alone again, Timmy spoke up, "Those didn't look...logical. Why don't they have headlights?"

Tecna gulped, "To remain hidden." She knew the Witches wanted to mask their presence as much as they could; because they wanted to be the invisible protectors and controllers of the city. If they remained unseen like that, they would remain as the myths they wanted to remain.

Suddenly they realized they had to get into position. They both slung their backpacks over their shoulders and left their hoverboards in the brush. She hoped they could grab those later. Tecna remained on the one side of the road and Timmy went to the direct opposite side. They both crouched hidden in the bushes as the first hover car approached. They judged the trajectory just right, and they both successfully and quietly managed to land on the back bumper and they both grasped the sides of the hover car for life. Timmy grasped her hand closest to him and gathered it in his hand as they zoomed down towards the headquarters. Soon they found themselves descending down into the void of darkness and danger. They gripped each other's hands tighter in fright and nervousness.

Tecna knew they had successfully made it into the sub terrain headquarters. She couldn't believe their luck they had getting here. She would be sure to thank Andy, Nova, and Galatea if she ever saw them face to face again; she would never be here without their help. One jeopardizing question still pressed on the back of her mind as they descended lower and lower into the ground; would she ever make it back to the surface again?

**Yay for quick update! The next chapter will be one of the most climactic and surprising ones yet.**


	16. Chapter 16: Brain Washed

Chapter 16: Brain Washed

They descended more and more into the abyss, Tecna knew they had to be reaching the bottom soon...How far did this place stretch? A moment later the hover car gently descended on a dimly lit platform. Tecna was thankful the back bumper was facing to the wall, so the Witch driving would not see them. They watched cautiously as one male Witch quickly exited the hover car and ran down a nearby hallway and disappeared almost as fast as he exited. He was definitely in a hurry.

Tecna was confident that she knew where he was going, and she was positive she needed to follow him. They both silently and quickly rushed down the hallway following him. She couldn't believe how deserted the place was at night, maybe Witches did need to sleep at some point.

Seeing how deserted the hallways were, they decided they could quietly whisper to each other, "I can't believe such a place exists..." Timmy gasped as he read some of the doors that were labelled.

Tecna read them off as they rushed past, hoping to find one that their friends would be in, "Magnetic Imaging, Nano Technology, Screening Room, Morgue..." Reading the last one, they both looked at each other pale in the face.

"We definitely aren't going in that last one..." He gulped nervously as they moved on; he stopped as they passed a room with double doors, "Operating Theater Three...Do we go in?"

Tecna feared the worst, but she nodded as they slowly opened up the unlocked door. She wasn't surprised the doors weren't locked, considering how protected the building was from the outside world. They slowly held their breath as they entered the dimly lit room. They gazed around to notice it was entirely empty. It staged a dozen seats high above an operating room down below blocked by a sheet of glass. Tecna dared to go up to the edge of the room to get a better look at the operating section. The only thing down below was an operating bed, a tray of twisted and dangerous looking tools, and on the far edge of the wall was a giant tank filled with some sort of strange liquid.

"My mom showed me pictures of rooms just like this from a hospital," Timmy stared out the window and he pressed his palms against the window, "She says the tank is filled with body-nitrating substances and aesthetics that will replenish the body before, during, and after surgery. She says someone undergoing the major operation to be a fairy will be fully unconscious in that tank for hours upon hours. Then the unconscious body is fed a tube full of air through their mouth so they won't...die. She only mentioned it briefly to me."

"I can't imagine ever waking up while...in the tank," she struggled to reply as she imagined her body floating around in the gelatinous tank, "Who knew surgery was this...dark and creepy."

Timmy chuckled softly, "If they told you about the tank, being unconscious and all the creepy stuff that goes on, would you ever want to get the operation?"Timmy's last words clung to Tecna's mind, "Do you...think this is where they turn Witches...into Witches?"

Tecna only nodded slightly, "That, and turning runaways into brainwashed fairies too." On that final note she realized they needed to get going on their mission. Before they left the room, Timmy went through a drawer on the far side of the room and pulled out a small tablet computer. He flicked it on and the screen illuminated; revealing all of Icy's medical records with every detail relating to the operation imaginable. The endless amounts of files visible made Timmy smile for the first time in a long time, "This is the information my parents have been looking for...They spent years trying to find this stuff." He quickly opened up the back of it and carefully removed the tracking chip that he knew would be attached. "With this...we can create a cure." He closed it up and shoved it in his backpack.

"I can't believe our luck," Tecna gasped as she felt a smile creep along her face. The small tablet meant the end of the lesions, and the downfall of Icy and her legion of Witches. It was too good to be true.

They exited into the still abandoned halls and they kept venturing down an endless corridor as they passed more rooms that they knew their friends would never be in. As they were about to turn the corner at the very end of the hall, they heard voices talking down the next hallway. They skidded to a halt around the corner as they pressed their ears and listened. She peeked briefly around the corner to see Icy talking with the Witch that delivered the hover car.

"What do you mean there are more runaways?" She heard Icy hiss angrily, "We destroyed that entire city...we captured _everyone_."

"They set up a sign on the outskirts saying 'Domino Lives'," he replied in a typical monotone fashion, "There's people on hoverboards scattered all over. It's very true Doctor, there are more out there."

Icy sighed angrily, "Only the work of Timmy, right? I should have known...Only he would be able to cause such chaos in _my _city!" She hissed angrily, "How dare he disrupt _my _city!"

"Your Witches are waiting for further instructions for what you would like them to do. The sign is extinguished...But we need to know if we should continue pursuit. All of the runaways got away." Tecna smiled knowing that Galatea, Nova, and Andy got away. She knew a hover car was no match to a skilled Pixie on a hover board.

"All I want is for you to capture Timmy, I want him _here, _I want him under my control once and for _all_," Icy was practically shouting, "I'm tired of having him steal my Pixies away."

"Will do Dr. Icy," the stern Witch hurried off further down the hall until he was far from sight. Suddenly Icy turned towards the corner where they were hiding and started walking in their general direction. They could hear her powerful clanking heels approach closer and closer.

"What do we do now?" She mouthed her lips to Timmy. This was no time to get caught, they were so close. She could feel her friends were so close. They didn't come this far to get caught, it was not going to happen. Timmy suddenly silently pushed her away from the corner of the wall and he stood in front of her, shielding her.

He grasped the pair of large binoculars that Nova gave him earlier. Tecna didn't have the fondest idea about what he was doing, but he gave her a stern look that told her to let him continue on. They waited as Icy came closer and closer, until Timmy sprang like a ninja and smashed her cranium with the sturdy set of binoculars.

She fell on the floor; completely unconscious.

Timmy let go of the broken binoculars and they fell to the floor. Timmy gave Tecna a pale look, "I can't believe I just...did that..." Tecna could tell he was horrified by what he did, and she couldn't blame him; Timmy was never the one to harm a single human soul.

"It was brave...I can tell you that," she crouched over Icy's body and studied her pulse and head, "She's not dead...but she's not waking up for quite a bit. Great work."

Timmy stuttered and bought his hands over his face, "I don't know what came over me...I felt this adrenalin rush as I felt your life was in danger...I feel like a monster."

"You knocked out a monster, so I wouldn't take it too much to heart," Tecna tried to reassure him and pecked a kiss on his cheek. Suddenly the door beside them burst open as an unknown figure emerged. Timmy immediately stood in front of Tecna, shielding her from whoever the figure was. He immediately backed away from protecting her when they realized who was staring at them in the most perplexed way.

"We're too late," Tecna gasped as she fought her own bitter tears. Standing in front of them was Musa; and she was pretty. It was weird how Musa showed some resemblance to her old self; yet she looked so different. She had smooth pale skin with no imperfections; her eyes glimmered like dark blue sapphires, and her lips were a light shade of red and were full in shape. Her eyelashes jetted out to a beautiful full length. Her hair was no longer in two pigtails, but instead she had full length hair stretching down her back, but this time it was pulled into a high pony tail by a red hair elastic. She looked down at Musa's attire to notice she was wearing a red ruffled dress and an aqua blue studded necklace. Tecna stood with mouth agape, but she only assumed Musa was transformed first because she would really put up a fight with the Witches.

Then it occurred to her that Musa being like this was _all _her fault. She knew this guilt was everlasting. First she destroyed Domino, and now her friend was brain washed. She was the worst person ever. Well, maybe second to the person who created the Dark Magic.

Tecna was scared to ask if the others were okay. She also hoped Musa wasn't about to rage on her like earlier. She also hoped she would be able to remember Domino...and that Icy didn't erase any of her memorizes.

"Tecna? Timmy? Boy am I glad to see you guys, but what are you doing here?" Musa giggled in such a carefree way. She looked down at Icy and looked at them confused, "Now why in Magix would you knock the poor woman out? She's quite old y'know."

"You...turned," Timmy gasped horrifically.

"Duh!" Musa giggled and smiled, "It's so nice to see you two...still making trouble."

"We don't have time to chit chat Musa," Timmy interrupted harshly, "Where are the others?"

Musa pointed to the room she came out of, "In here. Dr. Icy has everyone locked up for some brainless reason," she paused, "Boy is Dr. I going to be mad when she wakes up." She nudged Icy's arm and she continued to lay motionless.

Timmy didn't bother to listen to her awful babble, and he rushed into the room where Musa was and shoved past her; Tecna stood outside as guard and looked over the overly happy Musa.

"What have they done to you Musa...?" Tecna asked softly. She still could not believe her eyes seeing Musa like this. She remembered at one point she told Musa she wanted to see what she would look like as a pretty fairy...and here she was. She didn't imagine having such bitter feelings towards her.

"Besides the obvious?" Musa laughed. Tecna couldn't believe how much Musa laughed at almost everything. Her brain was so brainwashed from the lesions she couldn't believe this was the same Musa. "If you can believe it, I'm the only one who was turned so far...I put up a real fight against the Witches. I was really biting and scratching...But that's all behind me now after Icy forced me under the knife. I must ask though, why are you and Timmy here? If you wanted the operation you just had to give yourselves up...not knock out the lead Witch."

Tecna couldn't believe Icy would force Musa to undergo the operation. Icy said the operation was a choice to undergo, but here she was strapping a poor runaway into unconsciousness and changing her mind forever. She couldn't believe how cruel they were. Calling them monsters would be an honour to the actual disgust and cruelty of these beings.

"We're here to rescue you and the others," Tecna's eyes darted on Musa, "Don't you remember being in Domino? The Witches? Me betraying you guys? Your anger towards me?"

Musa rolled her eyes as she continued to smile, "Of course I remember silly! But I had a change in heart..." More like a change in your mind, "And I realized that living in Domino was a stupid idea, and that where I really belong is to be in Magix. I've never felt so great! I was actually just on my way to Solaria mansion to some huge party."

"But...your anger towards me," Tecna was speechless by Musa's reaction, "Aren't you still mad?"

"Heck no! I was a stupid, ugly Pixie," Tecna couldn't believe she was referring to her old _true _self as ugly. Plus she knew her forgiveness wasn't a real forgiveness, it was brain damage talking. "I was angry over nothing. In fact, I should be thanking you for everything you've done. If it wasn't for your betrayal, I wouldn't be like this right now and I would still be stupidly angry at you," she giggled again.

"What about Domino being your real home? I know you know that's where you belong," Tecna sighed as she knew Musa was brainwashed beyond fixing. Maybe there was a sliver of hope that she would realize the truth...but Musa was brainwashed good.

"If you only knew...What I feel like right now," Musa smiled happily, "You would realize how silly it was to live out in the wild and rebelling against Icy and the Witches. It's like you guys are playing a giant game of Hide-And-Seek tag, and I think it's about time you realized that this..." Musa pointed at her beautiful figure, "Is what everyone should look like right now. We've hid long enough and it's time to give up." Musa brought her hand up to Tecna's magenta haired and ran a finger through her greasy and knotted hair, "You my friend need a shower."

Tears poured down Tecna's face, she covered her ears to block out Musa's brainwashed words of nonsense. She was wrong, all wrong. "No...Stop, Musa you're brainwashed. You have to believe me. You're talking complete nonsense," She wiped her pointless tears from her teal eyes as Timmy busted his way back through the doorway. Behind him was Riven, Flora, and his mother Tammy; no one pretty or a fairy like poor Musa.

Sirens began to blare loudly; they realized they were busted.

"I told you they would immediately know!" Riven angrily told everyone, "There was no way Timmy could break us out without someone knowing."

Tammy yelled over the sirens, "We need to go...NOW." She began ushering everyone down the hallway back to where they first entered, leaving unconscious Icy alone on the cold tile floor. Tecna roughly grabbed Musa's hand and pulled her behind her as they ran.

"But Mom! What about Dad?" Timmy yelled furiously to her, "We need to get him too! Where is he?"

"He won't be joining us Timothy," She solemnly said to him as the group continued to run down the deserted halls.

"You mean he went under the knife? Mom, we can fix him with a cure. We have to go back now and find him!" Timmy paused, "We can at least _try _and cure him."

"Your father's dead Timothy," She finally burst out. Tecna couldn't believe what she heard, how could he be dead? Unless...they were purposefully killing the runaways, but Musa was a pretty and a fairy so that couldn't have been that objective. "I'm sorry, but I'll explain everything once we get to safety." Timmy fell silent. "I promise I'll explain everything that happened."

"Where is safety anyway?" Tecna managed to pipe in. Before anyone could answer a squad of Witches were running strongly behind them. The group pushed on as they reached the long shaft that lead to the surface. Their first instinct was to run into the Witch hover car and hijack it to safety.

That was exactly what they did. They all climbed back into the hover car with Tammy being the driver. Timmy's mother finally spoke up as they began to rise vertically to the surface. Flora spoke up as she dug around the back of the hover car, "There's hoverboards back here!"

"Perfect," Tammy began, "We'll all split up into pairs and take two on a board to safety. There's a large hidden cave just outside of Gardenia that we could hide in. I wish I could say we could go back to a city but there's nothing to really go back to anymore. We'll establish the new Domino there. I want Tecna and Musa to ride together, Flora and Riven to ride together, and I'll ride with you Timmy," She ordered to everyone as she concentrated on getting the hover car to the surface. "There's no doubt that the Witches will be out on boards as well now, so do _not _head to Gardenia until they are off your tracks."

"One question Tammy, where in Gardenia is the cave?" Flora asked nervously as she handed Tecna, Riven, and Timmy a hoverboard.

Timmy finally spoke softly, "It's on the far edge of the city. You will spot an old statue built by the warrior fairies, it's built in the small cliffside near that."

Finally they broke through the surface and Tammy landed the stolen hover car a couple yards away from the Witches base. As soon as they all piled out of the hover car they watched a dozen Witches spring from the base wearing dark suits and were riding hover boards towards them. The party all budded up on the hoverboards and everyone zoomed off in different directions.

If the Witches wanted the runaways so bad, they were going to have to fight for them. This group of escaped runaways would be the world's only hope for a cure to the brainwashing lesions, and an end to the Witches secret reign of terror.

**It's funny when I think about Musa going from "ugly tomboy" to "pretty girly girl" sort of, because isn't that what happened in the series kind of? Just compare the Musa of Season 1 to the Musa of Season 4 and...you'll get the picture and understand exactly what they did to Musa.**

**I knew choosing Musa to play the role of Shay (Shay is the character Musa portrays from Uglies) was the right decision from the start. Wow, I think there are only 2-3 chapters yet and I'll have to write the sequel: Fairies.**


	17. Chapter 17: The Spark for Revolution

**Lots of talking mostly, but I really liked writing the conversations in this chapter between Tecna & Riven, and Tecna & Musa.**

**My my my...longest chapter yet. But my god...Only one more chapter left! I've decided instead of splitting them up I would make one final and massive chapter.**

Chapter 17: The Spark for Revolution

It was one thing to hoverboard without crash bracelets, as Tecna learned how dangerous it could be without them, because if she fell...it was going to be a real and deadly fall. There was nothing to bound her in midair and to call to her board to return to her. Now was the problem that two girls were now riding one hoverboard with neither one of them wearing crash bracelets. To sum up all the danger involved, now they were forced to ride as fast as possible to avoid the capture of the devious Witches.

At this point it came down to fleeing or falling...hard.

Tecna felt Musa wrap her arms around her to help gain some balance; she knew Musa had lost all her hoverboarding capabilities due to the operation. Her athletic motor skills were slowed down to say the least. The two girls flew off into the blinding and twisting woods as trees and shrubs seemed to appear as nothing but a blur to them now.

"What, no crash bracelets?" Musa protested as she regained her footing on the heavy duty Witch specialized board. "You are absolutely brainless Tecna!" Tecna couldn't help but laugh after hearing the girl with the brainwashed brain calling her the brainless one.

"We're fleeing, get it? Now Musa, hold on..." Tecna replied as Musa tightened her grip. "You do _not _want to fall off going at such high speeds...it will be disastrous."

"You mean...disastrous to my outfit?" Musa asked.

"Yeah, let's go with that," Tecna rolled her eyes as she remained focus on the trees that she quickly zoomed around. Suddenly out of the blue two Witches came crashing through the trees right behind them, and they began to closely follow in pursuit. Tecna began to panic, but kept calm, while Musa began to panic nervously. The Witches started to shoot dark magic at them that Tecna managed to barely miss.

"Why are they trying to kill us?!" Musa shrieked and grabbed tighter onto Tecna, "You need to go faster Frizzy."

"If you haven't noticed, I'm trying! I can't exactly urge this board faster," Tecna yelled back until she thought of a plan, "Musa, you're a fairy now, right?"

Musa quickly corrected, "Fairy of music, yes."

"Right, well I need you to transform so you can help knock those Witches off our trail. Attacking them will do no good against their super bodies, but I'm sure you could give us an extreme speed boost that they don't have, right?" She explained her idea to Musa.

"Whatever you say," Musa ducked below a dark magic attack sent by one of the Witches. She grasped onto Tecna with one arm and shrieked, "Enchantix!" In a sudden poof of magic, smoke, and glitter Musa had transformed into her elegant fairy form. She held on tightly to her.

Tecna managed to glimpse back to see Musa's new appearance. Her elegant dark hair was pulled into two long ponytails held together by glittery pink hair pieces. She magically had new lighter shades of makeup and wore a light shade of pink lip gloss. Her outfit consisted of a pink and orange frilled belly top and a matching frilled skirt. Jetting off from her skirt was a light yellow ribbon. Her high heeled shoes were replaced with some sort of wire that stretched up to her knees and wrapped around her foot like a sandal. Tecna then briefly spotted her pale yellow wings that jetted from her back that were dazzled in rhinestones and glitter.

Looking at Musa like this only made Tecna want to see the old Musa again. But that was never going to happen as far as she knew.

"Okay Musa, now would be a good time to give us a little speed boost," Tecna replied as the Witches closed in on them.

"I...I okay, I'll try. I'm very new to this y'know..." Musa nervously giggled and held one arm around Tecna as she focused her magic in the other. Tecna knew her magic was some fake and weak magic, but if utilized correctly it could become a decent weapon. Only those able to outsmart the lesions would realize the full capability of their power. "Turbo shockwave!" Musa shrieked and a light pink vortex escaped from her hand that she had outstretched behind them. Tecna found they were propelled at extreme speeds away from the Witches who were now left in the dust. Whether the Witches were going to do something as equally as powerful, she assumed no. Musa managed to keep up her stream of magic across the river and over the Andros belt until they safely made it to Gardenia; alone.

"Thanks Musa, I owe you one," Tecna replied as they both quietly stepped off the board. Musa detransformed to her non-fairy form, "What a thrill _that _was." They began to walk towards the far end of the city, with Tecna carrying her hoverboard hunched under her shoulder and her backpack with survival supplies hunched on her back.

"But don't you see the trouble you're causing?" Musa questioned as she stumbled over some of the rubble in the desolate streets, "Giving up is the easy answer y'know...You could be happy and not this...miserable-ness." Tecna was certain that wasn't even a word.

Tecna softly replied, "Sure it's the easy answer, but it's not the appropriate answer...If you only knew..." She bit her lip imaging the lesions, "It's a long story, but I'll tell you one day." She knew logically that Musa would not comprehend the lesions.

They continued on their short journey in silence. Tecna continued to watch Musa's disgust towards the city, and her inability to walk around old rubble. Watching Musa suffer like this alongside her made her wonder why Musa was putting up with this hell that she was putting her through. She didn't exactly have to be with her; she could return to Magix if that was what she really wanted. She wasn't the person to hold someone against their will like a certain Witch.

"Musa," she paused and waited for her to regain her footing, "You don't have to be out here with me. You can go back to Magix and go back to partying if that is what you really want. I know you think it's torturous to be out here."

"I don't know I feel like I should stay," Musa gave her a puzzled look, "For some reason I want to make sure you all make it safely seeing as though it's kind of dangerous out here and stuff."

Tecna could tell by her face that she wasn't sure of herself, Musa used to always have that 'dominant' attitude and always knew what to do, she was so different."You weren't always like this Musa..." She trailed off.

"Yeah I know...I used to be an ugly Pixie like you."

XxxxxXXXXXXxXXxxxxx

Several minutes later they found the statue. It defiantly was worn out after the centuries of rain and intense weather. Tecna knocked on its base to determine it was made of pure metal, not the usual magic it would have been used to construct it. The statue was of a typical warrior fairy giving a very stern look, and carrying a sword. The base of the statue was encrypted words saying 'Fight for your City'. Obviously the statue was a reflection of the warrior fairies, and the fact they started wars between cities over nothing more than power and beauty.

"What an ugly statue," Musa squinted at the statue as if to transform it into something beautiful. To Tecna she thought the fairy wasn't ugly whatsoever, and of course Musa's comment was just her brain washed brain talking.

"Come on," Tecna dragged Musa away from the statue and walked toward the small cliff hidden by dozens of trees. They pushed back the overgrown shrubs and they found a small opening just wide enough to walk through walking straight upright. The cave finally opened up and descended deeper into the ground. The cave ended up spanning to be as large as a small school gymnasium. Unfortunately, Tecna was saddened to see they were the first one's there. That means the others were still in pursuit of the Witches, but she reassured herself that they were going to show up. She pulled out her sleeping bag and laid it out for her and Musa to sit on. She pulled out her water purifier and filled it up in a nearby puddle and offered to cook something up for her and Musa.

"That's disgusting!" Musa exclaimed after seeing her pour the purified water over some dehydrated food. Tecna picked the package at random to discover she pulled out two packages of spaghetti Bolognese. She placed the food in small bowls and handed one to Musa.

"You need to eat something," Tecna joined her on the rolled out sleeping bag, "The waters been purified, you have nothing to worry about." Tecna chuckled a little bit as she watched Musa eat with disgust, but her appetite changed when she noticed the food was decently tasty.

Moments later Riven and Flora came careening through the cave entrance roughly; which nearly caused Flora to fall off. Riven spun around and lowered the board and joined the others.

"Remind me to never ride with Riven again," Flora softly replied as she pulled out more packages of dehydrated food. "He nearly got us killed."

"We made it here in one piece, didn't we?" Riven rolled his eyes and perched himself on a couple nearby rocks, "Those Witches really gave us quite a chase though. It was thrilling to hear Flora scream for me to slow down and to hover more carefully," Riven chuckled.

"We could have been caught and turned into one of those pitiful fairies," Flora silenced herself after realizing Musa was listening, "Sorry Musa."

"Has anyone seen Timmy and his mother yet?" Tecna worriedly asked the group. She couldn't help but wonder if Riven and Flora were mad at her right now, and were only suppressing their anger because of the situation that they were in and the need to stick together. But maybe they weren't mad at all, and breaking them out was a way to make things even between them all.

Flora frowned, "No...I wonder what's taking them so long..."

Riven butted in, "Don't worry, I think they're fine. Timmy's a skilled hoverboarder, nothing to worry about."

"I guess I want to take this moment to also say I'm sorry," Tecna bit her lip, "I'm sorry for coming to Domino originally as a spy, and then accidently activating my tracker," she started to cry again, "I never meant for any of this to happen, I really didn't."

"Yeah, we figured. We overheard Icy talking about to another Witch about you siding with Domino and resisting..." Riven chuckled, "And seeing that you kind of saved our asses...I guess we're even."

"With so few of us left, we need to work together as much as possible," Flora smiled until she saw Musa get up, "Where are you going Musa?"

"Out, I need some air," Musa replied, "I feel stuffy in here."

"I'll come with you," Flora insisted and guided her out. Tecna watched Flora guide Musa into the hidden brush.

"I told her to stop being so vicious to the Witches, but she wouldn't listen," Riven mumbled, "Maybe if she would have listened...I wouldn't be staring at her in such disgust."

"You really don't like the new Musa, do you?"

"No, I hate it!" He clenched his hands into angry fists, "I fell in love with the old Musa...the beautiful, spunky, dominant, and smart Musa...Now all she cares about is how she looks."

"What are you saying?" Tecna gasped, she had no idea that the bold Riven liked Musa.

"I don't love her anymore, I mean I want to, but she's not herself. She's lost in the mind of the bimbo Fairies...and it sickens me."

"She's not totally lost...If Tammy can create a cure, then her mind will go back to the way it's supposed to be," Tecna tried to reassure him. "And the old Musa will be back."

Riven huffed, "If you haven't realized it, Fritz isn't by her side anymore and now she's forced to create a world changing cure all by herself. I'm not too concerned about creating a cure knowing how unlikely it will be."

"How did...Fritz die though?" She dared to ask. She knew she would never want to ask Timmy considering it was his father and he probably doesn't want to talk about it.

"It's sad, it really is," Riven looked at her glumly, "It's all Icy's fault...She was concerned that Timmy's parents would still remember the lesions because they spent their entire life so focused on them. She got desperate and tried to wipe his memory clear," Riven paused, "In the end the dangerous procedure killed him."

"That's what happens when you think you have all the power..." Tecna gulped. Icy was so lustful of her power that she thought she could change someone to exactly what she wants. In the end all her power did was kill people.

"Yeah, I'm just sorry it had to happen to him."

"We'll take Icy and the Witches down, I guarantee it..." She trailed off as she saw Timmy and his mother enter the cave with Musa and Flora following behind. She was so relieved to see everyone ended up making it back safe and sound.

"Timmy!" She shrieked and brought him into a tight embrace; he returned with a tight embrace as well. He slowly stroked his hands between her magenta hairs, "What took you so long? Did the Witches give you guys a hard chase?" She pulled apart from their embrace.

"No no," Tammy chuckled from beside them, "We managed to get them off our trail easily, but Timmy insisted he needed to make a pit stop at Alfea."

"Alfea? What for?"

"Well we need more recruits of we're ever going to start this revolution, so I figured we could use a couple friendly Pixies to help transport equipment from within the city," Timmy pointed towards the entrance of the cave and Andy, Galatea, and Nova came in on hoverboards carrying very large backpacks.

"We'll deliver anything and everything you'll ever need," Nova smiled warmly, "Wouldn't want any of you guys getting caught."

"We all want to help the revolution. Anything to stop the lesions and the Witches," Galatea giggled and dumped the gear out of her bag. It included more sleeping bags and extra survival gear to live out here. Tecna couldn't help but think that maybe...just maybe Domino will live on.

"And these are for you Tammy," Andy carefully emptied out what was in his backpack, "Stole them all from the chemistry lab at Alfea, I'm sure they won't mind us having a few." What he had was an assortment of chemicals, equipment, and any other chemistry materials that would be needed to develop the cure. Nova emptied her bag to reveal more supplies for Tammy.

"Oh, that reminds me..." Timmy dug in his bag to pull out Icy's tablet computer with all her files, "Don't worry, I already removed the tracking system. It has all of Dr. Icy's raw data on the lesions." Tammy smiled warmly as she took the computer and held it tightly.

"This is what your father and I have been waiting for...If only he was here," She wiped a few stray tears. Timmy came over and put a comforting arm around his mom, by the look on his face his mother already told him about his death.

"We'll get our revenge on Icy in due time. Her lustful power will be brought to an end if it's the last thing Domino does," Timmy smiled sympathetically.

"Do you really think we should still be calling...our establishment Domino though?" Flora managed to quietly pipe in, "I mean...we can't let people still think the real Domino is alive. We need a name to tell everyone that we mean revolution and change."

"She has a point," Andy acknowledged, "Many of us Pixies still believe the real Domino is out there."

"But what do we call ourselves?" Nova pressed her index finger on her lips as she tried to think; no one had any idea what to call themselves besides Domino.

"I actually already thought of one," Tecna stood proudly on a pile of rocks and smiled at everyone. They stood in silence and awe as they stared at her, "We call ourselves Sparx instead of Domino."

"Sparx? Why Sparx?" Riven questioned her arrogantly; confused by the odd name.

"It's simple really," Tecna gave them all a sly smile, "Because we are the _spark _for revolution." Everyone looked at each other and nodded happily; from that day forward they would be known as Sparx.

XxxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxx

Tecna counted the days. It had been two weeks since they arrived at the new establishment of Sparx. More and more of a small revolution was starting to take place as more Pixies ran off to live in the wild, and more burning messages similar to the Domino one has been popping up. It was a dream come true to Sparx, as they knew they were growing. Of course no one else was invited to stay with them in Gardenia, but they had dozens of recruits who were willing to risk everything to get more advanced supplies.

The influence about the horrible operation grew as the secret of the lesions was let out among the Pixies, and now everyone was realizing the truth. Some continued to not believe the information on the lesions, but more decided they needed to abandon becoming a fairy if they wanted to keep their mind sane.

The Witches even began to get trickier, and set up traps for the members of Sparx in the hopes of capturing them. But just like before no Witch can outwit a determined rebellious Pixie mind. It seemed the Pixies knew more about their own city than the cruel Witches that ran it.

As the days passed Musa continued to complain about her hair, dirty outfit, the ruins, and of course the food. She especially was becoming sick of being around all the ugly Pixies, because in her eyes this place was similar to a hell-like afterlife. She was never bitter towards anyone though, and instead she was just annoyed. Tecna couldn't help but wonder if Musa only liked being here because she had the only pretty face out of everyone.

Tammy continued to work alone on the cure using scrap materials that Pixies were able to salvage from chemistry classrooms and hospitals. She isolated herself from everyone in a curtained off room that they managed to set up at the back of the cave to give her privacy. At the end of those two weeks, Tammy announced that she created a cure.

It was only a prototype, and wasn't even tested. She was positive though that it was safe, and there was only a slim chance of it causing unknown after effects. She needed Musa to take the pill so they could test it.

"Musa, I need you to listen to be carefully," Tammy softly asked as Musa giggled, "When you underwent the fairy operation, they did something to your brain...Something unthinkable."

"I don't believe it," Musa crossed her arms in an annoyed way, "Besides, none of you understand my brain at all."

"Musa, will you just _listen_," Riven interrupted.

"No, you will listen to me," Musa darted her eyes at the group ahead of her, "I _like _the way I look. But when I hear you all talking about brain damage, I think you all need to have a good look at yourselves. Look at you all, running around playing commando full of rebellion and schemes. You're all crazy with paranoia, fearing to be caught. This is what being ugly does to people," she narrowed her eyes. "I don't even know why I've decided to stay out here..."

"No one's forcing you to stay sweetie," Flora added, "Why have you stayed these past two weeks?"

"Like I told Tecna...I'm worried about you guys because it's kind of dangerous being out here and messing with the Witches."

Tammy gave a long sigh, "But will you protect us from them?"

Musa only shrugged and gave out a long sigh, "I feel bad for Tecna, because if I hadn't told her about Domino she'd be a fairy right now. I'm figuring she will grow up and become a fairy." Tecna couldn't help but chuckle in an annoyed way after Musa told her she needs to grow up. She remembered she told Musa the same thing before she found out the truth about the operation.

Rive butted in, "You don't seem to want to decide for yourself..."

"Decide what?" Musa giggled as if the past conversation never existed.

"She's delirious," Riven angrily spit out. Tammy gave him a look to remain quiet.

Tammy smiled warmly at Musa as she held a small white pill in her hand, "This pill will not change the way you look. It will just undo the damage Icy did to your brain. That's all, and then you'll be able to think freely about how you want to look and not the way the cruel Witches want you to."

Musa looked at her confused and unimpressed, "I just want you all to understand..." She paused, "I know the Witches were cruel to you guys...especially Icy for killing Fritz. And I know they are psycho, but this doesn't mean you guys should be running away like this. If you undergo the operation the Witches will leave you guys alone..."

Tammy raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean they will leave us alone?"

"Because you won't be causing trouble anymore."

"Why not?" Tammy asked again.

"Because you'll be happy!" Musa replied happily. Everyone silently groaned as Musa's babble was getting them nowhere.

"So you won't take the pill?" Tammy asked once more.

"No way, they aren't even safe!" Musa exclaimed.

"I only said there was a small chance..." Tammy tried to explain but Musa cut in again angrily.

"And why should I want to take them in the first place? As far as I know it will turn my brain into the jealous and crazy brain of an ugly Pixie. From seeing you guys running around from the Witches I've concluded you're all crazy. And I will not become one of you."

"For the love of..." Riven angrily grumbled in disarray.

"Fine, then no one will make you take them Musa," Tammy sighed in defeat. Musa went outside with Flora leaving Tecna, Timmy, Tammy, and Riven inside the cave.

"But...but...but she has the lesions! We need to give them to her," Tecna replied furiously.

Timmy squeezed her hand, "That's all we can do; we won't give them to her without her consent. She can make decisions for herself."

"We'll sneak it into her food then?" Tecna suggested.

"No, I will not force her to be a medical experiment," Tammy huffed, "There's always a one percent chance something could go wrong, and I can't do that to her if she doesn't want it."

"But she went under the operation even though she didn't want it," Tecna corrected the doctor.

"That's the difference between Icy and I. I will never force a medical procedure onto others...Fritz died as a result of a medical experiment from Icy. If I was to force these pills onto her, then I would be the equivalent as Dr. Icy. And I would never do that."

"Well we need to get a willing fairy to take the pill...I'm sure we can find one person in Magix..." Riven suggested.

"I'm doubtful if they're all as brainless as Musa," Tecna sighed in frustration. She felt she was on the merge of a mental breakdown considering everything that was going on was all her fault. She was the one who became a spy for Icy, who brought the Witches to Domino, who is the reason for Fritz being captured and then killed, and she was the reason for a brainless and bimbo Musa.

"We just need a pretty fairy who was willing to take the chance," Timmy bit his lip.

She had to do something to set all her wrongs right. Tecna knew she could do more for Sparx and to undo everything she did wrong to everyone and destroying their one true home. She was the reason they were all living in a grimy and dark cave. She hated herself so much for everything she caused. Tecna suddenly knew how she could set everything right and to put her conscience as rest. Her stomach twisted with nervousness and fear.

She finally managed to find the courage to speak again, "Okay, you've got yourself a willing subject."

"What do you mean Tecna?" Tammy raised an eyebrow.

"I'll be your willing subject."

**Whew...Man that was a lot of writing, 4,220 words to be exact.**


	18. Chapter 18: Test Subject

**Final chapter! Eeeeeeek! :3 I guess it's not as long as I expected, but here is the final conclusion of Pixies, enjoy.**

Chapter 18: Test Subject

Tammy looked at Tecna, stunned and confused, "You can't possibly be a test subject Tecna. For starters you aren't even a fairy, nor do you even have the lesions."

Tecna smirked, "But I will have them..."

"You don't actually mean..." Riven trailed off as he figured out what she was going to do. He stared at her in disbelief.

"Yes Riven," she smiled solemnly, "I will go out to the outskirts of the city and let the wardens or Witches take me and I'll forcefully undergo the operation and become a fairy and thus getting the lesions."

"No...Tecna I'm not letting you do this," Timmy tightly grasped both of her hands as tears started to flood down his face, "You just...can't. I'd rather forcefully give them to Musa then let you do this. I'm not letting them take you away...You're crazy."

"But Tecna..." Tammy sighed, "I know the lesions will do their job and you won't believe us about the lesions and you won't take the pill. You'll be in the same position as Musa."

"Well...What if I wrote a letter of consent right now before I undergo the operation..." Tecna started.

"No, Tecna...stop," Timmy pleaded, "You aren't doing this."

She ignored him, "And once I turn you find me in Magix in a couple weeks, give me a letter that I will write explaining everything and my consent to do it...and take me back here to Sparx on a hoverboard just like I did with Musa. Simple as that...and I'll be back to normal."

Timmy pressed his damp glasses higher onto the arch of his nose, "You're crazy Tec...It's too dangerous. Besides, you'll only be normal on the inside."

"Tammy, didn't you say there's only a one percent chance it could cause damage?" Tecna rapidly replied.

"Yes, but that one percent could leave you like a vegetable."

"I'll risk it," she shrugged, "Logically it's a very slim percentage, and Tammy you still have weeks to perfect the cure..."

"You do have a very valid point," Tammy sighed in defeat.

"Mom! She is not going through with this!" Timmy was now full of anger. Riven came over and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down. Timmy slapped his hand away.

Tecna stood very bravely and faced her love, "I have to do this."

"You're being illogical, no you don't."

"Yes I do, I'm the reason for everything remember. If it wasn't for me Musa would be back to normal, we wouldn't be living in this dank cave, Domino would still be...around, and your father would still be living Timothy!" Tecna sighed, "I've done so much wrong to everyone, and this is the only way to set everything right and to put my conscience at ease."

"You've rescued everyone from the Witches...You've set things right," Timmy sighed desperately, "Please...I don't know if I'll be able to see you again like...like Musa."

She softly spoke, "I'll win you back...By doing this I'll finally let go of this heavy and guilty conscience that I still have. I know you don't understand, but I only feel I need to justly do this."

"But you..." Timmy trailed off sadly, "I don't want to see you as a fairy. We can test the cure on someone else."

"I'm sorry, but I have to follow through with this. For the sake of the world and for Sparx I _need _to."

XxxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxx

It felt so eerie to be writing a letter to herself. What made it even weirder was that she was writing it to her future self; the pretty, carefree, and utterly stupid future self. She sat there outside the cave writing on a scrap piece of paper they salvaged and was writing in the dim moonlight. Tecna wondered if she would ever feel the same for Timmy after her brain becomes brainwashed. Riven certainly showed a loss of affection for the new Musa, would Timmy do the same?

But she would have taken the cure, so the way she would act would never make Timmy detest her. She was going to be as normal as ever, except she was merely going to look different on the outside. True beauty is inner, and Timmy should remember that.

She sighed as she finished the letter and folded it up. Flora silently stood near her as she was about to enter the cave again until Flora spoke up, "You're very brave Tecna."

"Thanks Flora," Tecna bit her lip softly.

"I just wanted to let you know that we'll be watching out for you," She began, "Once the Witches get any idea that you're going to be inflicted with the cure...they'll be sure to keep an even more watchful eye on you. Remember that by becoming a Fairy you'll still be heavily watched by the Witches, even if it doesn't feel like anyone is watching you...they are."

"I'll remember that," Tecna replied as Flora brought her up into a tight hug, "And...Will you keep an eye on Timmy? Reassure him that I'm not a goner, and I'll be back to normal before he knows it."

"Of course," Flora smiled brightly as Tecna handed Flora her written letter of consent, "Timmy loves you, and I know he may seem upset now...He'll grow to accept your actions and he'll wait for your return to Sparx."

XxxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxx

They left at the crack of dawn when the world was glimmering with morning dew, the birds were not yet singing, and the sun was just peeking over the horizon. It was quiet, and the only sound they really heard was the quiet murmur of the hoverboards beneath their feet. Tecna was accompanied by Musa who promised to come with her to the hospital when she got caught, and of course Timmy argued with his mother to join her to the outskirts of the city, and to be able to say his last goodbyes to her.

Tecna flew with Musa on board with her, and Timmy boarded his own board next to her.

"You can still turn around Tecna," Timmy softly said to her, "You don't have to do this...No one's forcing you to go...and turn into a brainless bimbo!"

"Hey, there's a brainless bimbo here," Musa harshly replied as Timmy bit his lip trying to avoid saying anything to offend Musa, "And let her do what she wants. I want her to join me in Magix so I can have someone to party and have fun with."

"You know I have to Timothy," Tecna straightened her back as they continued to hover. They urged their boards onto the river and they began to go upriver to Magix. "For the sake of humanity..."

"But you don't get it! There's at least one person in Magix who will be willing to take the pill in the hopes for freedom. Why should I risk having you go only to have you become someone else?"

"I...I told you, I will go back to normal after the pill and I...I will win you back, remember? I know I will still love you. I could never turn you away; even after the lesions."

Timmy huffed angrily, "If only it were that easy. You better savour these moments because I know for a fact you will never love me back again. Logically you will never love an ugly Pixie like me after becoming a fairy."

"How can you say that...I love you Timothy. Love doesn't just...go away like that...even with brain damaging lesions," Tecna sighed sadly. "In a couple weeks and you take me back..."

Timmy interrupted, "Who's to say the pill will get rid of the lesions right away...Maybe it will take weeks...months...Don't tell me you're going to go back to normal right away Tec. It just won't happen, and I don't know how I'll feel seeing you as an illogical fairy."

"May I remind you that your father is dead because of me."

Timmy lowered his head as they quietly came to shore and he didn't dare say anymore. The three of them went into the brush, but Tecna and Timmy went a little ways off to say goodbye and have a little privacy. Musa remained a dozen metres away.

"Is this really it Tec?" Tears fell from his face, "You're still going to go through with this?"He firmly wrapped his hands around her waist and desperately pulled her close to him. She only nodded as a reply. He smiled grimly at her, "Well it looks like there is no logical way to change your mind so I won't try and change it anymore. I don't want your last memory of me a bad one...I want you to remember me like this; as the Timmy you fell in love with." He soothingly told her as he caressed her cheek with one hand and had the other hand wrapped around her waist. He looked deeply into her eyes.

"Timmy...I..." She managed to smile back but her smile turned into a frown, "I really don't want to leave you."

"Like I said, you don't _have _to. You and I could run away from all of society and live in desolation away from the Pixies, Fairies, and Witches," he grasped her tightly.

"Running away from our problems will never solve anything Timmy," she sighed sadly as she stared deeply into his eyes, "I promise from the bottom of my heart that we will be together no matter what happens. Believe me when I say the cure will do the trick and I won't be as illogical as Musa. I love you Timmy, and nothing will ever change that fact."

"I love you too Tecna," He brought her lips up to match his as they finally shared a much deserved passionate kiss. She couldn't help but feel weak in the knees as their lips collided in the fit of passion and love. She couldn't imagine being with anyone else, and she only hoped her Fairy-self would still feel this way towards him. If not, the cure would set her straight.

"Now I better go before I get caught," He whispered to her as he grazed his lips on her cheek, "I'm going to miss you...and let me say this is one of the most illogical things anyone has ever done..." He rolled his eyes.

"Even more illogical than breaking into the Witches headquarters?" She raised an eyebrow at him and she managed to laugh, "Because that illogical plan seemed to go just fine, and this one will as well. I guarantee it."

"It's even more illogical, but Tecna I need to let you know one last thing before I leave you," He rested both of his hands on her shoulders, "Please...just don't forget about who you really are. I know you're smarter than the lesions. All you have to do is outthink them, because you are more powerful than anything the Witches implant in your mind."

With his final powerful words he brought her up into one last kiss before disappearing across the river and back to Sparx. His words lingered in her mind; would she actually be powerful enough to fight against the lesions? If Timmy believed she could do it, then she could do it. If she was the girl to destroy Domino and break into the Witch headquarters; then she would be the girl to overcome the brainwashing lesions. Well, she hoped to be.

"Good, he's gone," Musa giggled, "Now let's start heading towards the city." Musa grabbed her hand and led her towards the river-side path towards Magix. "Oh you're going to love it in Magix. The parties are spectacular and wait until you see the hole-in-the-wall in your room. They can produce any outfit imaginable."

"Sounds...err, great," She managed to smile to keep Musa happy and excited.

"And you wouldn't believe the groups you can be a part of. You're friend Stella has established the most exclusive group in Magix where they pull big tricks in the city to stay famous and recognized, and they keep up with the latest fashion of course. I'm sure Stella will let us into her group because you're her old friend," she nudged her shoulder.

"Yeah," Tecna huffed as she remembered Stella. In the end she did end up keeping her promise to Stella; she was becoming a fairy just as she requested. She always thought she would be happier about going to Magix to be a part of the Fairy life. But now she knew the only thing that would make her happy would be Timmy. She sighed as she knocked herself back in reality to remember she was walking with Musa. "So, uh...what's Musa's group of Fairies called?"

Musa giggled, "She calls her group the Winx Club!" There was something weird yet intriguing about the group, maybe she would be a part of it.

"Hm, what an odd name for a group...what does Winx mean anyway?" Tecna raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Well, everyone uses it in Magix as a slang word for something awesome, amazing, or spectacular. Like, the parties in Magix are so winx-y," Musa laughed but Tecna couldn't help but feel that slang word was somewhat illogical and stupid, "But of course you wouldn't really know that because you're an ugly Pixie..." She trailed off, "Sorry Tecna."

Suddenly they watched as a warden hover car flew overhead and blew wildly on them, and land in front of them blocking the path. Tecna was actually thankful it was only a warden and not a Witch. One of the wardens came out holding a bright flashlight and shone it on the two girls.

"What are you two girls...well would you look at that," the male warden stood with mouth ajar. He dropped his flashlight in shock, but managed to pick it up again, "A Pixie and a Fairy out for a walk together..." Tecna could barely find any words to speak; she was nervous, scared, and worried. This was it, at this point she was going to become a fairy and she would have to kiss her old Pixie-self goodbye. At this point there was no turning back.

Musa nudged her shoulder to remind her to speak up. She licked her dry lips as she finally found it in her to speak up to the warden. She was shaking with nervousness because this was it; the point of no return, "My name is Tecna...and I want to be a Fairy."

**Wow, it's finally done! Now I'm going to take a small break from writing, but keep an eye out for the sequel; Fairies. Thank you to everyone who reviewed Pixies, and I'm glad so many people liked this story.**

**-Ciao!**

**S.M.**


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